20,000 20 years ago was not a substantial sum of money, I know of certain civil servants, on overtime, who earned it.
I don't for one minute condone tax evasion, however I think that the revenue, in this latest trawl, will be targeting by and large the most vulnerable in society, namely the elderely. I mean who is expected to keep documentation back to the early 1980's to prove the legitimate source of taxed funds held in these policies. Also, what about the surviving relatives of decased policyholders: How are they to know their loved one had a tax liability when thay were not the original players, and therefore will not be in a position to offer a voluntary disclosure to revenue as, they are oblivious to the existance of the policy. This latter point happened time and time again to survivors of Bogus non-resudent account holders, who first discovered the exiatance of accounts when they received one of the 7,000 letters dispatched by the revenue commissioners. I think that this action by the revenue is heavy handed to say the least. It has also been well documented that the revenue have used scare tactics on the elderly recipients of such letters , which resulted in them immediately making settlements, wheras in law they may have valid defences against claims to tax. There is a recent EC Law case which may prohibit the revenue from seeking tax arrears on a deceased estate, also if the executor can prove that he carried out the administration of an estete in a propper manner in that he didn't deliberately evade the tax debt: this may be a defence. Also the revenue have claimed that they will pursue the beneficiaries of deceased tax evaders, probanly through tracing in Equity. The benficaries will have defences to such claims. The civil Liability Act may also stipulate a time limit for the revenue to pursue claims to an estate. If of course, a valid inland revenue affidavid was submitted during administration, on the expiration of a fixed time limit, the revenue will be preculeded from re-examining the estates tax affairs. Time runs afesh though when a corrective affidavit is submitted to the revenue.