Tens of thousands of householders trying to pay their property tax who tried unsuccessfully to reach the Revenue helpline in the past few days will not be penalised if they fail to file their returns by today’s online deadline.
Revenue has confirmed that it has been inundated with calls this week with almost 40,000 calls being handled in the last two days alone.
Taxpayers who had paid by single payment methods or by direct debit last year are required to file their returns for 2014 by today and also to specify their payment method.
As of last night, about 700,000 of the 960,000 households contacted by letter last month had filed their returns. However, many who had queries or who were unsure about aspects of the application had difficulties getting through to the Revenue helpline. Some 19,000 queries were handled on Monday and a similar number yesterday.
A spokeswoman for Revenue said last night that any taxpayer who failed to get through to the helpline and left a message will be deemed to have filed their returns on time, even if they fail to meet today’s deadline.
“Over the last couple of days, wait times have ranged from 18 seconds to 30 minutes,” she said.
“However, any taxpayer that has submitted a genuine query – whether by email, letter or voicemail to the helpline – in respect of their 2014 obligations in advance of the filing date will be treated as having complied with their requirements on time,” said the spokeswoman.
Source: The Irish Times
