The number of income tax returns filed online rose 14 per cent last year, although the overall tax take grew at a much slower rate of just 4 per cent. Claire Shoesmithreports.
According to Revenue figures released yesterday, 279,020 returns had been filed online by the deadline of midnight on Thursday, with a record 37,000 returns filed on the final day alone.
The online payment of tax for the year was more than €2.28 billion, compared with €2.20 billion recorded in the prior year.
Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First, said the slowdown in the rate of growth was synonymous with a slowdown in the overall economy.
He said that for a healthy growing economy, he would have expected growth in the tax take to be nearer 6 to 7 per cent, rather than the 4 per cent actually achieved.
"More people are filing but they are filing less money," said Mr Power, adding that this will be a significant issue for Minister for Finance Brian Cowen in the upcoming budget.
"Over the next 12 months we are likely to see the labour market slowing further, the housing market slowing further and given what the equity markets are doing, capital gains tax take is likely to be much lower," he said.
"A lot of tax areas are coming under pressure and will remain so during 2008 and, as a result, control of current spending is of paramount importance."
According to the Revenue, about 74 per cent of tax returns filed on time - by October 31st for traditional paper filings and November 15th for online filings - were made online, up from 70 per cent last year.
The online system, known as ROS (Revenue Online Service) has been available to business customers since 2000 and individuals since June last year.
Take-up of the service was initially slow and some teething problems, such as the system crashing on the day of the deadline in 2005, has led to some consumers continuing to fill out their returns online.
However, its popularity is now steadily increasing, with only an estimated €98,000 worth of payments made in the traditional written manner this year, according to the Revenue.
