Revenue to pay back tax with interest

TAXPAYERS who are overcharged will be systematically paid interest on the money wrongly taken by the Revenue Commissioners, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said yesterday.

The move contained in the Finance Bill, which will give effect to much of the tax changes announced in the Budget on December 4, follows on scathing criticisms by Ombudsman Kevin Murphy late last year. Mr Murphy said the Revenue Commissioners had failed to compensate people for the loss of value in money wrongly held by them for several years.

He cited the case of two garda widows who had been wrongly overtaxed on their pensions in the 1980s but denied proper interest when the error was finally acknowledged.