Revenue reports 100% rise in online tax take

The Revenue Commissioners have reported a 100 per cent increase in online tax payments this year, bringing the total collected by its internet division past the €10 billion milestone.

Revenue Online Service (ROS) gathered €4 billion in 700,000 transactions since January and and has collected 15 per cent of all tax revenues in the three years since it was established.

It is believed that the decision to extend the deadline for filing returns online to three weeks beyond the November 1st self-assessment due date has contributed to the surge.

The introduction of online vehicle registration has also prompted a huge response, with 70 per cent of new car registrations completed online.

Last year, 23,000 self-employed income tax returns were filed through ROS (9 per cent of the total filed). So far this year, 53,000 have been filed with three weeks left to the ROS filing deadline - an increase of 130 per cent, with more still to come.

"We have witnessed exponential growth ever since the service was introduced," said Ms Margaret Whelan, strategy manager with ROS.

She urged self-employed people who have yet to file this year's returns to register online without delay as the process normally takes eight working days.

The Revenue has clamped down on late filing by the self-employed over recent years, levying heavy penalties and interest charges on those missing the deadline.

Workers may complain as they submit their returns but recent data show the national tax burden as a proportion of GDP is among the lowest in the developed world.

OECD figures reveal tax as a percentage of GDP fell from 29.9 per cent in 2001 to 28 per cent in 2002.

Since 1985, the total has fallen from 35 per cent of GDP.

Taxes on personal and corporate income as percentage of GDP tumbled markedly last year, coming in at 11.4 per cent of GDP compared to 12.5 per cent in 2002 and 13.3 per cent in 1999.

This puts the Republic well below the EU average of 14.1 per cent.