a few thoughts
"he contacted Revenue a month ago and confessed all."
- that will stand in his favour with Revenue and assist in minimising penalties and unlikely that prosecution would be applied as he knocked on their door before they knocked on his
see www.
revenue.ie/en/pr
actitioner/
code-of-practice-
revenue-
audit.pdf page 85 and section 7.3
- whether the alleged offender has made a full disclosure of the irregularities; has cooperated in reaching settlement and has paid all the tax, duty, interest and penalties that are due.
re a proposed fee of 2500, that would probably be VAT inclusive which is 2032 + VAT or 254 per return. Very little for a return to be prepared, reviewed, discussed with client, amended if required following discussion, submitted to revenue and so on
for the person themselves they, as already mentioned, get a tax deduction. Assuming top rate tax payers this roughly cuts the cost in half.
a quick google found this from 2013 which at section 6 sets out average fee quotes for CPA accountants which suggest a few of around 430 per return [broken link removed]
430 x 8 = 3440 + VAT which then discount down as you do all together so the fee of 2500 seems reasonable.
of course you will get someone who says they can get to done cheaper or that a friend of a friend knows someone who will do it for X but let them on. An accountant is a business not a charity and he chooses to set his fee based on his overheads and a customer can either choose to engage them or not.
Either way it is good that the OP's brother is sorting this out rather than leave it unsettled as revenue make lots of money from interest on late payments of tax.