Vol. 403 No. 9
41 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the average delay in payment of income tax rebates from day of certification of rebate by inspectors of taxes to the issue of the cheque(s) to the taxpayer; the reason for such delays; and the steps being taken to eliminate same.
I have been informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the Collector-General issues 380,000 income tax repayment cheques annually to taxpayers. A computer-based system is used to prepare 97 per cent of these repayment cheques and they are issued within six working days of receipt by the CollectorGeneral of the certificate of the Inspector of Taxes.
For a variety of reasons, it is necessary to prepare the remaining 3 per cent of cheques manually. In 1990 the issue of these cheques was subject to delays varying from ten to thirty-five, and averaging fifteen, working days after the Collector-General received the Inspector of Taxes' certificate. Following recent changes in work practices the delay in issuing these manual cheques has been reduced.
