Irish Simplified Tax Return For 2013
An employee working on the Property Tax Helpline has been suspended, amid allegations of unauthorised use of credit cards according to Breaking News.ie
The employee, a member of staff at Cork-based Abtran appears to have unnecessarily asked some 11 callers for their credit card numbers, however it is understood no credit card holder suffered any financial loss. It is understood however that the individual involved did attempt to effect transactions but failed to do so.
The Revenue Commissioners gave this contract for running the Property Tax Helpline to a private call centre, despite opposition from its own civil servants. Revenue awarded a one-year contract to the Cork-based company Abtran, following its previous role in processing College Grant Applications. (We do not know how much the latter cost taxpayers.)
Lower paid civil servants had argued that it was a waste of public money to outsource this work, when there was already enough staff in the public service to undertake same, however Revenue insisted it did not have enough available staff. It claimed that this private call centre gave it the best chance of responding to the exceptional pressures expected during the initial roll-out of this tax.
Abtran are supplying some 40 staff, who deal with daily calls from the 1.6 million liable households, while complex enquiries are being passed directly on to current Revenue employees.
The cost to Revenue is based on how many calls Abtran handles daily, but expectations are that the cost to taxpayers will total €4.9m.
Following these allegations of unauthorised use of credit cards, Gardaí & the Data Protection Commissioner have now been informed.
Anybody with concerns can call a dedicated Revenue Tel number, 1890-22-63-36, from 9.00am today.
They should have a freephone number for concerned people who are going to pay their tax online, after the Property Tax – Allegations Of Fraud.