asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that the VAT repayments section of the Collector General's Office is receiving in excess of 800 telephone calls per day; and that they have only three telephone extensions; and the steps he proposes to take in relation to the grave delays that are occurring in this section.
Written Answers. - VAT Repayment Claims.
502.
The Revenue Commissioners have advised me that difficulties encountered by traders in contacting the VAT repayments section in the Office of the Collector General arise basically from the necessarily limited resources of staff which can be assigned specifically to deal with the very large volume of telephone inquiries relating to VAT repayment claims. The overriding objective must be to devote the maximum resources to processing such claims to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible.
Claims for repayment of VAT are normally disposed of within three weeks of their receipt by the Collector General provided that the claims are in order and that the traders' tax affairs are up-to-date.
The major rationalisation of the VAT rate structure announced in the budget should ease considerably the burden of complying with and administering the VAT system for traders and the Revenue Commissioners respectively. I would therefore expect an improvement over time in the operation of the VAT system generally including repayments.