Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There are trade fairs and many other places where Revenue is anxious to see people and discuss a range of matters.

Deputy Richard Bruton asked if the formatting of the information could be improved and made more simple and client friendly. We should always consider improvements and I have no objection to that. However, despite all these customer focus initiatives by Revenue, the taxpayer has the ultimate responsibility for his or her tax affairs. We must make it as amenable and as simple as possible but the ultimate responsibility stays with the taxpayer.

There is a four-year time limit on repayment claims and that is matched by a similar time limit on revenue-raising assessments in the normal course, except where fraud and neglect are involved. There is a matching restriction of four years on the part of Revenue to assess taxpayers, which matches the four-year rule or restriction on the taxpayer's right to a repayment. I am informed there is no discrepancy there, though some people may have thought there was.

In looking at the main reliefs claimed by taxpayers, the pattern emerging seems that the bigger the allowance, the higher the take-up. That is not surprising, for example in the case of the home carer's credit and the rent relief. Revenue believes there is almost full take-up on the home carer's credit and perhaps 80% take-up on rent relief. There is a lower take-up on the service charges relief. As I said, we are making a change this year to provide for a general upper limit of €400 per annum on which relief can be claimed irrespective of how the charge is determined. When claimed once, it is automatically carried forward to subsequent years. In 2002, an estimated 124,900 claimants availed of it at an estimated cost of €5.2 million, and provisional figures for 2003 indicate there were more than 165,000 claims for bin charge credits. That is a significant increase, a rise of more than 30% year on year. I am sure 2004 and 2005 saw further increases, perhaps because of greater public awareness.

I will follow up the suggestions made to see if we can improve the Bill but the allowances and credits are made for a purpose. They are made available so that people entitled to them can claim them. The ultimate responsibility for claiming them lies with the taxpayer, not the Revenue Commissioners. The only person who can say what is right or wrong in this area is the taxpayer. We recognise these are the parameters within which we operate. There are client-focused initiatives in an effort to make the system user-friendly through all the technology, assistance, simplification of forms, specialised staff to deal with client queries, lo-call numbers and fax. The Revenue online service has been a great success and should not be under estimated. We see many areas where people are using online services, with usage increasing quite significantly over relatively short periods of time. That provides for much interaction which otherwise would not take place. The technology provides for a quick interactive approach.

Taking all that into account, it is important to recognise the progress we are making. Revenue tries to ensure everyone takes the credits or allowances available to them. The information is made as broadly available as possible but unless every taxpayer takes on his or her own responsibility there will be less than 100% coverage in respect of every relief. The system must be made as operable as possible. The Revenue is extending the PAYE computer system to allow taxpayers access their Revenue records, perform a range of services, amend tax credits, request online reviews and receive an automatic repayment in certain cases where the Revenue is fully satisfied that a repayment is due. We should recognise that an adversarial approach is not being taken. Where there is a bona fide entitlement, the Revenue Commissioners are as anxious as anyone else to ensure taxpayers receive their entitlements.

The primary responsibility for bringing that about lies with the individual taxpayer. The more we can do to remove the mystique from interaction with the Revenue Commissioners, the less people will hesitate to contact them directly. Everything that can be done consistent with our responsibilities is being attempted. Specific suggestions about improvement of certain formats will be examined.

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