Revenue’s tax sweep ‘disturbed’ pension watchdog

OLDER people not liable for extra tax were treated in a “disturbing” manner by the Revenue, the Pensions Ombudsman warned.

Paul Kenny expressed alarm as the row continued to rage over the way Revenue contacted 150,000 people, including those claiming widow’s and widower’s pensions, about their tax compliance status.

About 115,000 of those contacted were told they will have to pay extra tax during 2012, according to the Revenue.

Research and Innovation Minister Sean Sherlock said he was unhappy with the “insensitivity” and “scatter-gun” nature of the move.

Discussing one man who received a letter, Mr Kenny said: “More disturbingly, his wife got a letter. She has neither a state pension nor an old-age pension because she hasn’t retired. It seems inexplicable that someone who isn’t even retired should have got a letter.”

Mr Sherlock made it clear the Revenue should adopt a different approach in future.

“It was handled with a certain degree of insensitivity, in the sense that there was a scatter-gun approach taken. I think Revenue will have learned a lot of lessons from this,” he told RTÉ.

The concern was expressed as it emerged 2,500 pensioners may be audited by the Revenue as part of the drive to raise extra taxes from elderly people after a trawl through Department of Social Protection records.

Helplines for those concerned about their tax liabilities have been receiving a large volume of calls.

The Revenue’s 1890 number was kept open for part of the weekend.

Age Action and other groups dealing with elder people have criticised the Revenue for its handling of the situation.

Though the Department of Finance was alerted to the planned new year clampdown on pensioner tax compliance last November, Micheal Noonan did not mention it in his budget speech — despite factoring in the money it would raise.

Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton denied this had been a deliberate ploy to shift the blame for tax hikes from the Government onto the Revenue.

More than 2,500 people with undeclared private pensions over €50,000 will be targeted for tax arrears.

Meanwhile, a Revenue sweep for people returning self-employed tax statements when they should be paying PAYE is making progress.