Tax Appeals Commission determination 59TACD2019 regarding Excise Duty, 2019

• Administrative Decision Number: 59TACD2019
• Year: 2019
• Date: 16 December 2013
• Subject Matter: Excise Duty
• Appellant: A. LIMITED
• Respondent: REVENUE COMMISSIONERS

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59TACD2019

BETWEEN/

A. LIMITED

Appellant

V

REVENUE COMMISSIONERS

Respondent

DETERMINATION

Introduction

1. This is an appeal against excise duty assessments in accordance with sections 145 of the

Finance Act 2001, in the total sum of €2,116,055. The details of the assessments are as

follows;

 Notice of assessment to excise duty dated 23 October 2014 for the period 4 June 2011

to 6 December 2011 in the sum of €358,078.

 Notice of assessment to excise duty dated 23 October 2014 for the period 7 December

2011 to 30 April 2012 in the sum of €265,679.

 Notice of assessment to excise duty dated 23 October 2014 for the period 1 May 2012

to 16 December 2013, in the sum of €1,492,298.

2. The Appellant duly appealed.

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Background

3. The Appellant company, A. Limited is a limited liability company engaged in the sale of

mineral oil. The company traded in oil, including marked mineral oil (‘MMO’) for

approximately twenty-five years. The Directors of the company at all material times were

Mr. X and his spouse, Ms. Y.

4. In the course of an audit of the Appellant company, in November 2013, a Revenue Officer

identified that there were a significant number of invoices for the sale of MMO for

amounts less than 2,000 litres where the completion of one delivery and the

commencement of another were just seconds or minutes apart. It was noted that

typically, one single payment was received to cover all of these invoices. This gave rise to

the question of whether these invoices were separate deliveries or whether they related

to one single delivery of MMO.

5. At a meeting between the Revenue Officer and Mr. X in February 2014, Mr. X, accepted

that the invoices had been prepared to circumvent the requirement to make a return of

oil movement (ROM1) in relation to these deliveries and to conceal the identities of the

customers. Mr. X accepted that the names on these deliveries were falsified by him. A

sample of invoices was put to Mr. X who confirmed that the details contained on them

were false.

6. In September 2014, at a meeting between Mr. X and a Revenue Officer, Mr. X undertook

to furnish details of the transactions routed through all of the false accounts operated by

the company relating to the sale of MMO. Shortly thereafter, the Revenue Officer was

furnished with a handwritten note setting out the details of the false accounts and the

quantity of marked mineral oil supplied in relation to each. This note was furnished in

evidence at the hearing.

Submissions

- The Respondent submitted that where the requirements of section 99(10)(b) FA 2001

were not satisfied, fuel falls to have been supplied as road diesel and excise duty at the

standard rate applies. The Respondent submitted that as the Appellant failed to