Chartered Accountants Ireland has been engaging with Revenue in respect of concerns raised by members on the restricted morning-only telephone service for IT/CT/CGT customers operated by a number of Dublin Tax Districts. The restricted hours of telephone contact coupled with long waiting times on hold are having a commercial impact on tax practitioners seeking to discuss their clients’ tax issues.

Revenue has confirmed to Chartered Accountants Ireland that the mornings-only service approach is due to resourcing issues and the need to concentrate resources on dealing with correspondence, processing tax returns, dealing with repayment claims and getting assessments on records as soon as possible. Revenue has also confirmed that there are no plans to re-consider this approach in the medium term. It was also noted that the Region has increased the numbers of staff on the 1890 PAYE service in recent weeks.

Revenue has also stated that all areas in the Dublin Region operating a mornings-only service will ensure that there is adequate staffing to maintain a timely answering rate and the Region intends to review the level of service provided via the telephone in the context of the 2013 Pay and File campaign.

We also raised with Revenue the delays reported by members in getting through to the ROS Helpdesk telephone service. Revenue confirmed that this service was relocated to the BMW Region offices at the beginning of the year. Due to the transition, customers may have experienced interruptions and delays in getting through to the helpline; however, this should not be on-going.

We are interested in hearing from practitioners who continue to experience long waiting times in getting through to the ROS telephone support and any issues experienced with the Dublin Tax Districts telephone service. Feedback can be sent to us at tax@charteredaccountants.ie