By the time you are reading this issue of tax.point, you will be getting a well-deserved rest after the busy Pay & File season. During the filing period, the following items of news were reported.

Unlinked client facility extension rejected

ICAI had requested that the unlinked client facility be opened in early October to facilitate filing of unlinked clients. Revenue rejected this request, so the unlinked client facility only opened from 22 October to 19 November. One could be forgiven for being cynical in concluding that this is another “stick” to force taxpayers to both file and pay through ROS.

Prior to this year, Revenue had allowed this facility to be open-ended. It is disappointing to see such restriction this year. In particular, the fact that only 9 days are available prior to the 31 October deadline, and 24 days are available for the 15 November deadline, would suggest that the taxpayer is being “encouraged” to both pay and file through ROS.

Revenue have suggested that agents should contact the relevant tax office to create the necessary link or to have the new case registered for Income Tax, and that the unlinked client facility should be used for “last minute” cases only.

Delays in ROS

Members had expressed concern on delays and outages in ROS in mid October. ICAI were informed by Revenue that there had been some delays, but that improvements had been made to ROS during managed outages to prepare for the peak filing deadline.

According to Revenue, these improvements involved increased processing power, upgraded software, and enhanced channelling of transactions to maintain service in the event of minor outages and a full switchover to a business continuity site in the event of major issues. Revenue were confident that these improvements would facilitate the handling of the load at peak time.

Revenue continued monitoring ROS on a daily basis to ensure that any delays were caught as soon as possible.