Ms Cora O'Brien:

The electronic side of the Revenue service is very good. In fact, Revenue is a world leader and best in class when it comes to e-services. The Revenue Online Service, ROS, is excellent, as is online filing. We also have electronic Revenue Contracts Tax, RCT, and electronic registration. All of the systems work very well and are great for businesses generally because they cut down on the time one has to file.

The problem is that we have gone so far down the electronic route that simply technical queries cannot be answered. Let us say one wants to change one's tax credit. Now, if one telephones the 1890 number one will basically be put into an email service called MyEnquiries and advised to send an email. One will probably have waited 20 minutes for someone to answer one's phone call but then one will be told that the query cannot be answered over the phone and it must be put in writing and emailed to us. Unfortunately, it could take three to five weeks for Revenue to reply to the email. Our members have told us that often times Revenue, when it does reply, wants more information. That situation does not just apply to the Revenue service in Ireland. There has been a move to electronic services generally for tax administrations in the UK and US. We have reached a situation where people cannot speak to a human being by phone to discuss in order to resolve an issue.

We feel that with all of the challenges such as Brexit, which Ms Buckley mentioned, and all of the costs that businesses have to cope with, we need to assess the present service. Revenue is a great enforcer and collector of taxes, which is important. However, money and resources must be set aside to help businesses at the critical stages of starting in business and starting to export. The UK has dedicated people to work in certain areas. When UK businesses start exporting they get a person for six months purely to help them with their tax obligations and ensure filing is done right. Ireland needs to do human things like that to help businesses with their technical services. Tax uncertainly only ends up costing businesses and the State because it leads to audits and settlements.