The people at the centre of Kerry shares project

The manager of the Revenue's Kerry tax district has been leading the charge to extract additional tax from Kerry co-op shareholders.

Thomas Hubert

4 January 2017

The people at the centre of Kerry shares project

Anne Dullea, the Revenue Commissioners’ manager of Kerry Tax District who signed the initial letters sent to 400 farmers in November, appears as the driving force and central contact point at every juncture in the ever-growing Kerry Co-op shares project. In successive internal memos, she updated other Revenue officials about progress by the unit she set up to recoup additional tax from the co-op’s shareholders.

In successive internal memos, she updated other Revenue officials about progress by the unit she set up to recoup additional tax from the co-op’s shareholders.

Since an investigation into the transfers of Kerry Co-op shares started in 2015, it has developed into a dedicated team “with staff now allocated fully to working the project”, according to a memo Dullea circulated on 18 October.

In the same document, she claimed responsibility for the interpretation that shareholders should pay income tax on the resale value of patronage shares during the year they receive them. “I raised a query with RLS [revenue legislation service] last summer and only today received a response agreeing with my view,” she wrote.

On 27 October, she was invited to present a paper to the Revenue’s business management executive, the group of top civil servants making decisions on programmes and projects at the national level.

The executive “endorsed” her approach, according to minutes of the meeting.

As letters went out to Kerry Co-op shareholders on 18 November, Revenue officials also circulated their template internally, including in Co Clare and Co Limerick, advising staff who might receive queries on the issue to refer them directly to Dullea rather than the usual regional support offices. On the same day, she was meeting with Kerry Co-op secretary Brian Durran to inform him that the letters were going out.

Dullea was one of the four Revenue officials summoned by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance on 7 December, but she did not speak. Instead, Charlie Phelan, the Revenue Commissioners’ assistant secretary for the southwest region, did most of the talking, with assistance from principal officer Paul Walsh of the income and capital taxes division in Dublin Castle.

While Dullea has initiated, defended and carried out the project, her actions have been sanctioned at the highest level. Phelan gave the final order to send out letters in November.

Commissioner Gerry Harrahill, one of the Revenue’s top three officials, was informed of every step in the process and chairs the business management executive that gave the overall green light in October.

Anne Dullea