Vol. 401 No. 4
86 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Finance the arrangements which have been made to ensure that rebates of DIRT tax to old age pensioners, who do not have a tax liability, are made as quickly as possible; if his attention has been drawn to the long delays which take place at present; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that they have introduced a number of measures to ensure that refunds are made as quickly as possible. A special simplified system was introduced in 1986-87 to deal with these refunds. An advertising campaign in the press and on radio was undertaken in April last to draw attention to the circumstances in which an individual would be entitled to a refund. This campaign has been very successful and has resulted in an appreciable increase in the number of claims received.
The Commissioners are not aware of any undue delay in dealing with claims in tax districts outside the Dublin area. If, however, the Deputy is aware of specific cases where delays have occurred, I will have them investigated on receipt of the necessary details.
In Dublin there has been an increase of over 55 per cent in the number of claims received and this has caused some delay. Additional staff have been allocated to deal with this work and outstanding claims will be dealt with by the end of July.
The Deputy may wish to note also that the Revenue Commissioners will be keeping a computerised record of taxpayers qualifying for a refund this year. These taxpayers will automatically be issued with claim forms in advance of the end of the tax year to facilitate next year's claim.
