Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded through the CCAB-I to Revenue's consultation document on Proposed Extension to Mandatory e-Filing/Payment. CCAB-I is not hostile to electronic filing and payment as it is in the interest of the accountancy profession that Revenue operates efficiently. However, in the submission we point out some of the operating issues with the current Revenue Online Service which Revenue must consider before extending electronic filing and payments.

The submission highlights:

• The inadequate broadband service in some areas of the country. If the technical infrastructure is not in place how can mandatory e-filing be fairly implemented.
• The additional costs for the accountancy firms in implementing risk procedures for junior staff that generally process ROS returns and payments.
• Fraud control procedures are required to safeguard against hackers.
• Revenue should put extra resources in place to support extra responsibilities put on accountants as a result of mandatory e-filing i.e. one point of contact for ROS assistance.
• Provision should be made for accountants to make amendments on-line to submitted returns and payment information.

The full submission is available here.