Pensioners who come into property windfalls but fail to notify the relevant authorities are being targeted as part of a new benefits crackdown.
The probe, which is being run by the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners in the wake of their recent decision to share data, is part of a wider operation to identify benefit cheats and was revealed in today’s Irish Independent.
News of the new crackdown comes just weeks after the Revenue Commissioners announced they were set to pursue 150,000 pensioners who may have underpaid tax.
According to the Independent, social protection officials are accessing the names of people on non-contributory pensions who paid capital acquisitions tax to the Revenue Commissioners on property they received from a family member.
People in receipt of welfare payments are required to report any property windfalls.
Around one million tax records dating back to 2007 have been examined as part of the probe, with 40,000 people understood to be under investigation.
So far €386,632 has been saved by the department by their ongoing investigations, which includes the investigation of people receiving a one-parent family payment but who are actually living with a partner.
