The 66-year-old, who lives at Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, Co. Louth, didn’t pay tax on income earned through his farming activities for eight years.
In 2006, the Criminal Assets Bureau raided Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy’s farm and found bags of money hidden in hay bales along with computers, ledgers and over half a million euro in un-cashed cheques.
An investigation was launched into his farming activities and he was convicted on nine counts of evading tax between 1996 and 2004.
His total bill to Revenue now stands at just under €190,000, when penalties and interest are factored in.
At his sentence hearing earlier this month, Mr. Murphy’s barrister questioned the figures produced by the State and asked the non-jury court to consider his otherwise clean criminal record the impact a custodial sentence would have on a man approaching his 67th birthday.
The maximum penalty for tax evasion is five years in prison.
