Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Public Accounts Committee
Revenue Commissioners Investigation of HSBC Offshore Accounts
10:00 am
Mr. Niall Cody:
No, but because of our double taxation agreement with the French, on occasion the French - like other administrations, including the UK - write to us. There is a framework, which is legalistic, as international tax agreements tend to be. The Indian authorities recently raised a query about accounts in Ireland in which they were particularly interested as part of an investigation. Similarly, we ask our partner countries for details. There is a regime in place, signed off by a commissioner, and an authorised officer to ask the bank for details of accounts, bank statements and transactions. This is an ongoing part of the normal tax administration and co-operation across frontiers by tax authorities.