Huge blunder see thousands of people ‘unfairly charged’ and hit with higher tax bills’ as expert issues advice on ‘mess’

THOUSANDS of people have been hit with millions in extra taxes nationally because of technical difficulties on the Revenue Commissioner electronic filing system.

Many were charged the wrong USC rates, not allowed to claim tax-free interest for pension contributions, and prevented from logging into PAYE and PRSI payments they may have made in temporary jobs during the last year.

These numerous complaints were made by self-employed people and their accountants filing the 2023 tax returns over the past ten days.

It’s understood that this resulted in most cases of people being charged higher taxes for the year than they normally would.

One accountant said: “The whole thing has been a mess. You have to go on to the Revenue’s system to make the tax return but there were various categories that the system would not recognize what you logged in or it would not let you claim for things that you are normally entitled to.

“Many were unfairly charged with far higher tax bills than they should be.

“We are talking about millions here nationally and the vast majority of people I spoke to were shocked by the amounts of money they were being asked to pay.

“I advised my clients to hold back on paying the Revenue and to see if we can make a second new return because of the technical mistakes.

“I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if the deadline for filing in October will be extended for a couple of weeks because of this fiasco.”

Tens of thousands of self-employed people across the country are now in the process of making their tax returns for last year.

The Revenue Commissioners admitted there had been a problem but that it had been fixed today.

In a statement it said: “Revenue is aware of issues experienced by taxpayers with the filing of the 2023 income tax returns.

“Issues arose after a system update on June 15 which caused difficulty for customers and agents filing the return and those issues were rectified on June 26.

“Returns are being filed and processed as normal since then.

“Revenue engaged with the tax practitioner bodies and third party software providers in relation to their feedback on the issues with the return during that time.

Issue fix

“Revenue continually monitors its pay and file systems and any necessary fixes and upgrades are carried out as a matter of course.

“If a taxpayer is disadvantaged by the system issue, for example if deposit interest at a higher rate of tax, the return will be reviewed and reassessed.

“Should taxpayers have feedback on any aspect of their own tax affairs including the ability to pay and file using Revenue systems, they are encouraged to engage with us via MyEnquiries our secure encrypted email service for taxpayer correspondence or alternatively via phone.”