Operated account for UK friend - any tax implications?

I have a situation which is causing me great concern. During 1984/1985 I had a friend in England who asked me to set up an account in Ireland for him because he hoped eventually to move here. I set up an account in my own name in a financial institution and lodged about £18,000 of his money over about 18 months. During the following six or seven years he developed cancer and from time to time asked me to make withdrawals on his behalf. By 1991 I had sent all the remaining money back to him and he died shortly after that.



I never benefited to any extent from the transactions.



I have been a PAYE taxpayer all my life and I have never had any other source of income. I’m now extremely worried that this account may come to light and that the tax authorities will assume that it was undeclared income. How can I defend myself?

I'm not a financial professional, but I would recommend you tell the Revenue exactly what you've said here (if asked). Have you any supporting correspondence to back you up?

Even if they didn't accept your explanation, the setup [i.e. the money being in an account in your name] looks at face value as though it was effectively an interest free loan (not gift) to you, which you repaid without making any profit, so possibly there wouldn't be income tax or CAT (gift tax) implications anyway??? [Not sure about this.]

Were all the withdrawals simply money sent directly sent to him (which would make it fairly simple), or were they used to buy stuff from a 3rd party for him?

cambazola said:

Were all the withdrawals simply money sent directly sent to him (which would make it fairly simple), or were they used to buy stuff from a 3rd party for him?

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Thanks for that. All withdrawals were in cash and were handed to him during his visits to Ireland. My problem now is that there is little or no correspondence (and he's now dead!)