Online tax returns to hit two-year high by deadline today
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) believes that record numbers of returns will be filed electronically this year, with a significant increase over last year’s high figures.
Today is the deadline date for the filing of income tax returns. Last year the numbers who filed electronically hit 63%.
ICAI expects that figure to be exceeded by up to 10 points by close of business today
Electronic income tax returns now outstrip paper returns by about three to one, according to Brian Keegan, ICAI Director of Taxation.
Taxpayers who file on-line had almost an extra three weeks to file their returns and pay their taxes.
“This shows the effectiveness of an extended filing date as an incentive for accountants and their clients to use the internet to fulfil tax obligations, and reflects well on the maturity and stability of the Revenue OnLine Service (ROS)”.
ICAI also acknowledged that as the economy continues to grow, the Government will require increased statistical tax data to assess the impact of changes in tax policy – how much a tax relief costs the Exchequer, how many taxpayers qualify for a particular relief etc.
Much of this data will come from tax returns, and ROS will be a cornerstone of any strategy to realise this objective.
“ICAI will work with Revenue in this project, as long as we can ensure that the needs of Government can be balanced with simplifying the tax process for compliant taxpayers. The burden of tax compliance on all citizens should not be increased," said Mr Keegan.
