Tax

Michael Brennan: European court privacy ruling could see end of ‘name and shame’ tax defaulters’ list

A successful appeal to the European Court of Human Rights that the list is a ‘modern-day scarlet letter’ could have implications for a key part of Revenue’s ‘compliance toolkit’ here

The European Court of Human Rights: a Hungarian businessman won his case by arguing that his right to privacy was breached by the Hungarian authorities’ publication of his name and address on a tax defaulters’ list.

The publication of the names and addresses of tax defaulters has been an Irish tradition for four decades.

Revenue is fully aware of the power of being ‘named and shamed’ as a motivating factor for someone to do a deal rather than risk the public notoriety, which is why it takes out full-page advertisements in national newspapers to highlight the lists.

Those lists detail the name, address and occupation of the defaulters along with the ...