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Here you can access summary of the key current tax developments in Ireland, the UK and internationally as reported by Chartered Accountants Ireland

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Statistics for 2015 on Revenue’s complaint and review procedures

Revenue recently provided statistics to the Revenue Audit TALC sub-committee on the outcomes of its complaint and review procedures for 2015. An analysis of reviews at local level in 2015 shows that 86 per cent of the outcomes were against the taxpayer and 41 per cent of the reviews undertaken by an internal or external reviewer were against the taxpayer.

Revenue’s complaint and review procedures provide taxpayers with a mechanism for making a complaint and seeking a review of how Revenue handled a case. Revenue’s information leaflet CS4 Revenue Complaint and Review Procedures sets out the process and the various levels of review. The review procedure in brief takes the following format:

At Stage 1, a taxpayer can make a formal complaint to the Revenue office where a case is managed (the local office). If the issue cannot be resolved, or the taxpayer is unhappy with the outcome, the complaint can be moved to a Stage 2 review.

Under Stage 2, the taxpayer can request a local review to be carried out by the manager (Principal Officer) from the local office, or in certain circumstances by the manager (Principal Officer) from the relevant Regional/Divisional office. If the taxpayer is not satisfied with the outcome of the local review, the complaint can be reviewed under a Stage 3 review which is carried out by an independent internal or external reviewer.

Further details of the review statistics released by Revenue are as follows:

An analysis of the Stage 2 (local review) requests dealt with in 2015 is as follows:

  • 86 per cent of the Stage 2 reviews were against the taxpayer.
  • 14 per cent were in favour of the taxpayer.

Of the reviews that were against the taxpayer:

  • 73 per cent of taxpayers sought a Stage 3 (internal/external) review.
  • 27 per cent of taxpayers appear to have accepted the Stage 2 decision.

Of the cases where a Stage 3 (internal/external) review was sought:

  • 41 per cent were against the taxpayer.
  • 5 per cent of the Stage 2 decisions were revised/partially revised by the reviewer.
  • 36 per cent were refused a Stage 3 Review because the request was either outside the scope or the timeframe of the procedures.
  • 18 per cent are still ongoing.