Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 November 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 17 - Tax compliance interventions
Chapter 18 - Tax relief on film production

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Mr. Cody might send us a note on the various scenarios.

Last Friday, I was listening to "Liveline" while driving. A caller complained about the cost of calling Revenue. If I type "Revenue phone number" into my iPhone, as Mr. Cody will be aware, the results include the Revenue phone number and a number for help information. When I select the latter result, it states that to contact Revenue, it costs €2.95 per minute from an Eir landline. It states a 1590 number for the revenue collector division and numbers for general inquiries in the Dublin region, the western region, the east, the Border and the midlands. The lady on the radio the other day said she was in new employment and could not get her tax credits. She went straight to Google and found the Revenue phone number, which she called, but after ten minutes the line cut off, as is noted on the website. When she received her phone bill, it stated that two phone calls, of €28 a piece, cost her €56, which was probably more than she earned from her part-time job at the weekend. What will Revenue do about that? I now know that it is not Revenue's website but people listening to the radio programme may have a different impression. The lady called what she thought was the Revenue phone number. When I google the number, the first result claims to be the Revenue phone number. Revenue has to do something about that because it is bad for its business.