Archive for the 'Revenue Commissioners' Category

Irish Revenue Commissioners make eFiling mandatory

Published March 23rd, 2010 in HM Customs and Revenue, online, secure certificate, slippery slope, IRS, efiling, Revenue Commissioners, paperless, eire, Pay and File and ireland. 0 Comments

Back in 2006 we mused over whether estatements from  a Bank were good or bad we concluded they were goodfor the bank, but bad for the individual.

Well now abother large organisation here in Ireland has furthered its hatrid of paper. From 1 January 2010, the Revenue Commissioners (who are the Revenue and Customs and Excise organ of the state) commeced “Phase 2″ of mandatory eFiling. It applies to certain companies only.

But the slippery slope is here, its just a matter of time before it extends to individuals.

The Revenue Commisioners already refuse to accept cash in their offices; they only accept payment by Debit Card, Cheques (which the IPSO wants to abolish by 2016) and a Single Debit Authority or Direct Debit.

Can you see where this is headed? I can, and its a bad place.

You see eThis and eThat sounds well and good in the short term, and there will be photo opportunities, like a Minister for Finance holding a CD-ROM containing a PDF instead of a paper booklet, thats ok, thats like an eStatement, you could print itif you wanted to, but we are talking about the Revenue Commissioners here. They have huge powers, and limitless funds to hire lawyers.

What happens if they say you didn’t submit a return? What proof would you have? a paper receipt from your own printer or a screen shot of the submission page? What could would believe that, sure you could have photoshopped it yourself. The Revenue Commissioners know that paper matters. That is why for years their documents have had watermarks and UV threads.

so heres our slogan (comprised of three clichés)…
“eFiling: It’s all fun and games, until something goes wrong, then you don’t have a leg to stand on”

Ireland is slowly becoming a Police State

Published February 14th, 2007 in digital rights, bureaucaracy, police state, red tape, Revenue Commissioners and uncategorized. 0 Comments

I previously wrote about The Private Security Authority and how it acts as an agent of the Revenue Commissioners in ensuring tax compliance of sections of the populace by requiring a Tax Clearance Certificate from its clients.


Well today my attention was drawn to the activities of another resonably new body (est 2001)called the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).


This morning, Tuesday 13th February 2007, a shocking word appeared on the news page of their website, the word… was “Extension”. When used in an official context this word is almost always shocking, it is used to slip in a rule that the populace do not like and play down its importance as a mere “extension” of an already existing rule.

I am of course envoking Godwin’s Law here.


But can we blame the ODCE they say they are merely implementing “SI No. 49 of 2007
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (COMPANIES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2007″, which is a mere implementation of “EU Directive 2003/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2003″, the ODCE are merely following orders.


In the short term the new requirements are wonderful for webmasters who can make a fast buck editing their clients, and former clients sites, but in the longer term these requirements are worrying, they are but the latest example of the increasing red tape clogging life in Ireland.

Continue reading ‘Ireland is slowly becoming a Police State’

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