Friday, August 10, 2012

GOAL chairman denies charity has €500,000 tax bill

The chairman of Third World charity GOAL has insisted the organisation is tax compliant despite claims it may owe the Revenue Commissioners up to €500,000.

Pat O'Mahony was speaking following reports that a consultancy firm had advised the aid agency to make a financial disclosure to Revenue.

It was alleged that a draft document by KPMG suggested the charity may have a tax liability in relation to three UK-based staff who work in the Republic.

The aid agency has been convulsed by controversy since its founder John O'Shea announced he was stepping down at the end of this month.

The outgoing chief executive went to the High Court last month to prevent the charity from dismissing him. He announced he would retire at the end of this month after the court action was settled.

"Goal is tax compliant," said Mr O'Mahony. "I can't see us having any liability."

He said he had not seen the draft document but was satisfied by the relevant personnel that there was no outstanding tax liability.

In a statement, GOAL said the three staff involved always had the due amount of income tax deducted from their salaries.

"The issue, if one exists, is absolutely not about non-payment of income tax, but centres on the jurisdiction to which income tax should be paid (Ireland or the UK)," it said.

It said the KPMG report was an initial draft so it could not be assumed that the charity would be found to have any tax or PAYE liability.

Advice

The charity said it sought advice on contractual matters from KPMG in June.

"It must be emphasised that the KPMG report is an initial draft, and as such, many possible options and outcomes are listed," it said.

"The contents of this draft report, therefore, may bear little resemblance to a final report . . . (when) GOAL will undertake any necessary action."

The charity said the board was fully satisfied that the organisation is tax compliant.

It was claimed that KPMG advised the charity to make a full PAYE and PRSI review. It said it should do this before making a disclosure of liabilities to tax and interest, as well as potential PAYE liability relating to three employees.

It referred to three senior managers employed on UK contracts after 2006, who are still working for GOAL. They are acting chief operating officer Jonathan Edgar, internal compliance officer Jerry Cole, and media officer David Adams.

They were employed by the UK arm of the charity but spent most of their time recently working in the Republic.

It is understood a member of staff made a complaint to Revenue about the issue and their employment contracts were or are currently being restructured in light of the advice.

Mr Edgar, who will become acting chief executive after Mr O'Shea's departure, and Mr Cole were among senior managers who signed a letter saying they could no longer work for Mr O'Shea.