Three siblings are seeking to bring High Court proceedings claiming they should have been given an opportunity to present their case before decisions were made concerning the taxation of property investments they made.
James Flynn, a company director of Kilmore House, Kilmore Avenue, Killiney, Co Dublin; John Paul Flynn, a property investor of Calladium Gardens, Palm Beach, Florida, USA; and Elaine Flynn, a homemaker of Indian Road, Palm Beach, Florida, are each seeking to bring proceedings against the Tax Appeal Commissioners (TAC) over a 2019 decision to dismiss an appeal over their taxes.
On Monday, Ms Justice Niamh Hyland adjourned an application by Bernard Dunleavy SC, for the siblings, for leave to bring judicial review proceedings.
She said she had a real concern about the time since the making of the 2019 decision but there was, she said, a complex interplay between that decision and subsequent events.
She therefore adjourned the matter to next month for a telescoped hearing of the application for permission to bring proceedings and of the substantive leave application.
In their proceedings, the Flynns seek an order quashing a TAC decision of December last not to grant a rehearing of the original 2019 decision to dismiss appeals previously brought over assessments for the three years, 2007 to 2009.
They also seek declarations including that the TAC should have allowed them to present submissions on why their case should be re-heard. Declarations are also sought stating that the TAC failed to provide them with any or any appropriate notice of their tax appeal reference.
They also say they are entitled to a re-hearing so they can engage lawyers to argue their case as such an opportunity had not been provided before the decision.
In their statement of grounds, they claim, among other things, they did not receive any communication from the TAC regarding their appeals at any time. If they had, they would have appointed a legal representative with taxation expertise to act for them.
They say they were not made aware of the April 2019 decision to dismiss their appeal. There was apparently no interaction between their then-accountant and Revenue to determine if a settlement could be reached even at that late stage, they say.
In November 2021, they say they received the first communication confirming the dismissal of the appeals and recovery of the sums due from them for the relevant tax years. This was, they say, almost three years after the hearing and dismissal of those appeals.
The application for judicial review was being made at the earliest opportunity since it was December last that the TAC refused to acknowledge they had failed to advise that their original appeals had been transmitted to the TAC, they say.
