Best-selling author Darren Shan makes €2.1m settlement with Revenue
DUBLIN – Darren Shan, the London-born author best known for Cirque Du Freak and the Saga of Darren Shan series, has reached a settlement of €2.1 million with the Revenue Commissioners, according to facts released by the tax authority. The settlement relates to tax issues arising from Shan’s business activities in Ireland.
Shan, who also lists his occupations as a company director and landlord, is a director of two Irish companies: Stackallen Investments and home of the Damned. The latest publicly available accounts for Stackallen investments, dated March of last year, show the company held nearly €1.3 million in investment properties, including a commercial business unit purchased in 2019. Home of the Damned is involved in the “publication, creation, production, editing, translation, marketing and design of books and othre such written works of fiction for mass market appeal and the exploitation of all intellectual property rights including copyright and trademarks associated with such books and works and related activities.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Shan’s Cirque Du Freak novel, and the author has expressed hope for a television adaptation of his Saga of Darren Shan series.
The settlement is part of a wider Revenue enforcement effort. Last year, the Revenue Commissioners completed almost 311,000 audit and compliance interventions, yielding €591 million, and settled 256 tax avoidance cases, generating €46 million. They also secured 20 criminal convictions for tax evasion and fraud and published 74 tax settlements in the List of Tax Defaulters.”We leverage our vast data holdings and make full use of the statutory powers and exchange of information provisions at our disposal to proactively identify and challenge schemes and transactions that create an unfair tax advantage for those involved, and display indicators of tax avoidance or tax evasion,” noted Revenue Commissioner Ruth Kennedy earlier this year.
