Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has received a report from the Revenue Commissioners about the delays in tax offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13274/05]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 97: To ask the Minister for Finance if the Revenue Commissioners will have in place a system whereby taxpayers' queries can be dealt with promptly and efficiently. [13193/05]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the concerns being expressed by PAYE and other taxpayers regarding the long delays involved in having queries on tax dealt with; if he will report on the present arrangements; and his proposals in this regard. [13194/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 91, 97 and 129 together.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that while PAYE taxpayers are experiencing some delays during the current peak period, the backlog in this area should be substantially reduced within the next few weeks. I am also informed that there are no significant delays at present in areas other than PAYE and that queries and correspondence in these other areas are generally being dealt with promptly.

The period from January to April is by far the busiest for Revenue Commissioners staff dealing with PAYE. During January and February, over 2 million tax credit certificates issued to PAYE taxpayers, which inevitably generated large volumes of correspondence and telephone queries. Requests for balancing statements for the previous year, including end-of-year claims for items such as medical expenses relief, also tend to be concentrated in the first quarter and this year the volume of such requests and claims increased significantly compared with previous years.

Another factor contributing to the current PAYE backlog was the number of multi-year review claims received in response to the Revenue Commissioners' advertising campaign alerting people to the reduction, with effect from 1 January 2005, from ten to four years in the time limit for claiming refunds. Such multi-year claims, of their nature, take longer to process.

The Revenue Commissioners are, later this year, introducing a number of major initiatives designed to modernise and streamline the way PAYE customer contacts are managed during the annual peak periods. These include: a facility to amend tax credits and allowances, to file a return and to request an on-line balancing statement simply and securely over the Internet; a scanning or imaging system, which will reduce the turnaround time for dealing with paper correspondence and forms; the installation of the latest VOIP telephone technology, which will allow for much more efficient telephone call handling and call management.