Revenue 'more to do' than pursue small amounts of tax from pensioners

The Chairperson of the Revenue Commissioners has said she cannot guarantee that she will not pursue pensioners for arrears on taxes on their income.

However, Josephine Feehily said: "I can certainly tell you we have more to be doing than chasing very small amounts from people who didn’t sign a false return."

Ms Feehily apologised for any distress caused to pensioners over the manner in which they were told they would have to pay extra tax.

She is appearing before the Oireachtas Finance Committee after 150,000 pensioners received letters from Revenue last week.

Commissioner Feehily apologised for the way in which the letters were sent, but said if Revenue had gone public earlier about their investigation, it would have been worse, as it would have frightened 500,000 pensioners.

She said the matter of whether arrears will be pursued had yet to be decided.

"I cannot answer that question today...My job is to collect tax. I have no authority to say that I will not pursue a certain category of people for money in relation to recent years," she said.