Tax body criticises Revenue over poor service

The body that represents tax professionals has claimed that its members have little confidence in Revenue's ability to do its job and said many believe the level of service it provides is worsening.

Dermot O'Brien, president of the Irish Taxation Institute, called for greater expertise among Revenue officials and the introduction of a new complaints mechanism after a survey of 284 institute members revealed a "universally negative" view of the Revenue's work.

"Since the Revenue reorganisation of 2003, this institute has provided the senior management of Revenue with consistent evidence of serious service deficiencies - as we know the lack of resources allocated to some areas of Revenue has, over the past three years, almost led to melt-down," he said.

A revenue spokesman said the institute would be welcome to discuss the findings of its survey with Revenue if it wished. "I cannot comment on the results of a survey that I haven't seen but naturally I would reject the more outlandish claims," he said

According to the survey, conducted by Amárach consultants on behalf of the institute, Revenue officials were described as "unhelpful" by three out of four respondents, while some 84 per cent said they were dissatisfied with Revenue's overall service performance. In addition, 70 per cent said said there had been either no change or a disimprovement in service levels since a similar survey last December.

The results of the previous survey were presented to the board of the Revenue, but they were not published. The institute said the July survey suggested that there has been only marginal improvement to serious service shortcomings highlighted in the December survey.

Almost a third of respondents in July said that Revenue took longer than three months to process a tax return. Only 18 per cent gave a positive rating to Revenue when asked about the "knowledge of staff".

"As in December 2005, the findings are universally negative, especially given the level of contact between tax professionals and Revenue. An underlying frustration with Revenue continues to be apparent from the findings," said Amárach.

Mr O'Brien said he took no pleasure from the survey but that there was no escape from the conclusion that dissatisfaction with the Revenue was stark.

Calling for a new complaints mechanism, he said: "There needs to be a central point of contact with knowledge and authority to address issues speedily."

On the demand for greater expertise, he said: "The first point of contact must have sufficient knowledge to handle enquiries effectively, which is currently not always the case."