There’s something fishy about this. You don’t just shut a massive company because of getting hassle from the revenue.

Really bad news for the staff and it’s bloody awful to watch Irish companies failing at the rate they are , seems to me to be something odd around the circumstances of this that doesn’t look right on face value , I’ve had dealings with revenue before and found them firm but fair in the past , they usually engage to try accommodate difficult scenarios for business , also , I cannot understand why the option of examinership was not taken by the owner , must be some reason we haven’t heard , this would have given the business a period of protection from creditors including revenue to allow a more orderly solution to be worked out and giving the business the ability to continue paying staff etc would have been far far better than the current outcome.thought it disgraceful the owner did not communicate with his staff but was quick to run to the media for interviews today too.

I don’t know what to think about this situation. I think there could be more to this than meets the eye, however, I am annoyed to see yet another indigenous Irish company gone with the loss of 400 jobs because of high overheads, vis a vie, fuel and more importantly the tax on it. It seems you only matter to Irish politicians if you are a foreign company or in the tech sector – 12.5% corp amongst other knacks pulled to get them in, awarding of extra points to those good at maths as a direct result of lobbying from multinationals. I am all for foreign investment, but lets not forget, indigenous companies by their very nature are permanent, multinationals as we have experienced would leave us at the drop of a hat! We are forgetting all about many big Irish employers like Target and their concerns while we run around like headless chickens trying to keep the likes of Paypal and Google happy!

Let’s wait and see if Mick Wallace receives the same treatment from the Revenue….

Deal with Target on a daily basis, very sad news, fully support the workers there.

Wait for the full story to come out lads instead of knee jerk reactions to one side….wait and see instead of bashing without facts

@Tim. Show me one scintilla of evidence to show that Revenue are a corrupt institution. Actually corrupt. Y’know, on the take, stealing, that kind of thing. Corrupt like……
I’ll be waiting. Cheers.

400+ extra people a week on the dole plus benefits i’m not an accountant but i think that would equate to more than the 80,000 owed.

Paying tax is not voluntary.

I run a business and I’ve noticed a very sudden change in the revenue commissioners in the last 6 months. They have gone from being really reasonable and easy to deal with, to being tough and impatient. I’m paying my tax in exactly the same way and timeframe that I have done for 8 years, but now it’s with demand and threats, rather than notices and reminders. It’s a shame, I always thought they were the kind of people you could talk to and come to reasonable repayment plans with, but now it’s like they are inflexible and uncaring. Small businesses are taking flak from all directions these day and this is just one more on the list. It makes you wonder whether it’s worth it at all.

Has anybody heard anything from the LABOUR party about these workers being thrown on the scrapheap.

If the announcement was about 398 jobs being created the three Ministers from which the owner sought help would not have been so silent in not commenting on this disaster for the unfortunate people who have lost their jobs.

@Darragh I get what your saying about people owing them money but that should have no bearing in the revenues to wind them up. It’s not there job to chase targets debts. If target can’t call in there own debts then they are not a viable company. Whats upsetting most people is the job losses but again if there is no viable future for the company I’m sorry but they will end up on the dole like a lot of other people over the last five years in the same situation.

There is no way that Revenue would enforce like this without months of tax going unpaid and months of effort to engage with the company to work out a payment schedule. No way. In this instance it looks like the company just decided either not to pay the tax or not to engage constructively with Revenue and are now reaping the reward. I feel sorry for the workers but it’s the owners who need to answer questions here.

It would take someone a long time to rack up that kind of a tax bill. Until target give full details on how the built up that bill and why it wasn’t paid on time like all of there customers have to pay them in time. I’ll be siding with the revenue here. We have long been complaining about people being allowed to have huge debts with out paying up. I wonder how many others they owe money to

This is an absolutely outrageous scenario. How can one arm of the State effectively close a company over a ?1ml tax debt, and leave another arm pick up the Social Welfare bill of ?4ml+ annually, besides the Statutory Redundancy money that will have to be paid. BEGGARS BELIEF!!!

@Tim. What did the Mormons ever do on you?

“As Revenue Chairman Josephine Feehily, on previous occasions, has said “we want to help viable businesses and taxpayers who want to pay their taxes but can’t in the short term.

“We can, and do, put alternative payment arrangements in place to help such customers through difficult periods…But businesses and individuals must engage with us at the earliest possible opportunity and this engagement must be realistic

By the article they asked if they could pay friday but were closed down because the Revenue wanted the money by wednesday..something is not right here..if the Revenue closed them down for this reason and put 400 on the dole they should be hung!!

Is there something wrong with Tim Jackson?
I’m quite worried about him.

Heard Minister for transport today state that owner was in touch with his office but he did not deal with it.
Minister if 400 odd jobs are on the line in your sector you better damn well deal with it. Agree with the poster if this was google/dell or any other multinational same minister would be jumping through hoops to land/save 400 jobs. A sucessful/strugling indigenous company and we get waffle and rubbish. I like many other SME owners wonder is it really worth our while struggling through this recession trying to keep our heads above water, try to keep loyal employees in employment. Government/Revenue and welfare really need to stop grabing everything and take a long hard look at the bigger picture. There is very little wiggle room left for those of us that are still standing.

They put a guy in jail for misdeclaration of vat on garlic for christ sake even though he is paying it back 30 k per month….now they pull the trigger on 390 jobs. Will someone please answer me why Mick Wallace hasnt got touched for his vat misdemeanor or why revenue havent pursued Bertie Ahearn? Ray Burke is a convicted criminal but gets 120k from a state pension. Michael Lowry has questions to answer but revenue cant b bothered with these guys. they prefer the soft touch self employed any day.

A bank will never threaten to pull the plug until all avenues are explored. Revenue, however will work in reverse ie go for the jugular simply because they can. If target express created 390 jobs tomorrow can you imagine how fast Enda & co would be scrambling for the TV cameras.
All that aside I have huge sympathy for the owner and employees. Im sure he didnt start this company to end up in a situation like this.

but the good news is Easons are to take on 30 new workers…

I understand they dont normally comment on individual cases but we really need clarity here. If its the case there are other factors as to why this company was closed down thats fair enough but if they closed it down for the reasons stated above we have reached a whole new level of incompetence in this country

It costs the state €20,000 for every worker moving from employment to the dole. 390 jobs lost will cost the taxpayer €8 million PER ANNUM in respect of a €1 million one off debt. No joined up thinking between Revenue and Dept of Social Welfare.

So in summary: the government have saved €1m and cost themselves €4m.

Would somebody mind subtracting one number from the other there. My calculator keeps resulting in a negative figure. Surely this isn’t correct as the government couldn’t have been this fupping thick….

It was the right decision by the Revenue. After all, this way they get paid in full….

Oh wait…

A point that’s been missed here is that we have lost a major player in the express freight industry. This could potentially inflate the cost of doing business for the many thousands of businesses which rely on this sector. Whilst this is good news for the remaining players who already operate on a tight margin it will not help the overall economy. We also need to look at the knock on affects ie. Who maintained their fleet? Who supplied their fuel,insurance,tyres etc? There could be many more jobs lost as a result of this!

For anyone who thinks this is the whole story – send an email to your local tds expressing your outrage. Expect them to do something, they won’t be coming to thejournal.ie in order to see your anonymous outrage.

@Darragh….Revenues actions have a knock on effect on these businesses also. It is not a typical case of tax dodging, and I think Revenue should be called to explain their actions on this case as the net result is that the country is financially worse off

In a nutshell Darragh…We should be asking our local TDs to press this matter it really needs to be explained and if Revenue are correct they need a good kick up the arse for not clarifying it sooner

An outstanding tax bill of 300k. So dump 390 people on dole at minimum 188 a wk. so that is 73,320 pw or just over 4 wks to pay out another 300k. Am I over simplifying or is this a total no brainer??? Can anyone at revenue use a tad of common sense and a calculator?

Simple issue here is Revenue are judge and jury, and have limited evidence. If anyone else wanted to attach to a bank account they have to go to court and prove the case to a judges satisfaction. Who polices he police? Any other creditor would work with the company, even if problems were much bigger.

Mr McBrien is listed on the website of the group known as Concerned Irish Business, which has offered support to the former head of the Quinn group, Seán Quinn.

got this from the Irish Times Website, conciedence????

what about all the creditors ?? where do they stand with this?? how many other lives are indirectly going to be affected by this move?? surely somone will see this and evert this crisis?? please somone up there has got to put a stay on this tragic situation ..

As a business owner, I couldn’t agree more that revenue are not a lender but since when did small businesses become lenders to the state? I know of one business, who at the moment had revenue on his back for money but yet the Hse owe him 130,000 that he can’t get off them.

They wont be happy until there’s nothing left…wake up

Bottom line on this is there is no joined up thinking in this country. It is as simple as 400 dole payments out versus 80k in. Don’t forget the creditors who cannot be paid due to the accounts being frozen.

If someone has misbehaved in Target then the Revenue should set the Gardai/ODCE on them. Instead they have ensured that this company closes its doors and in doing so the Welfare tab falls to the Exchequer Social.

It’s outright treachery on behalf of Revenue.

OK,first , Revenue does not answer to any Minister , they are an independent organization that have a Board, of which Josephine Feehily is the Chairperson. If you are a taxpayer and are in difficulty and you decide to approach your T.D to make representations on your behalf to Revenue , they will totally disregard anything he says or writes . I know this because I used to work for them in the past , and that was one thing that was drummed into us in training . Bottom line is Revenue is a State Sponsored Debt Collection Agency

How many people giving out about the revenue, govt..etc will still vote for a corrupt and false-hope giver of a candidate in the next election??? All candidates give all these assurances then when they get into office they realise they can’t uphold them due to the former corrupt leaders, it’s a vicious circle..and on Mick Wallace, how can anybody in his constituency have confidence in a man that is screwing his own country?? Should be turfed out and held accountable for his shocking shirts!!!

Does anyone know How many other haulage companies went to the wall and lost jobs as they were tax compliant and couldn’t match targets rates?

if Targets version of events is true then this is a disgrace!

but i guess you’d have to acknowledge that if the revenue had a penny for every time they were told that a cheque was in the post then i guess we’d have enough money already to be out of this mess!

Oh yea! An easy Target…Revenue

Ah the “Chairman” is a woman, it’s starting to make sense now

Kenny has to be voted out of office. His administration is a disaster.

KENNY FOR EX-TAOISEACH 2012

Chuck. Darragh was talking about the people who Target owed money to not the people that Target was owed money from. Can anyone confirm if the company was apart from the Revenue bill doing Ok???