Revenue using Bully Boy tactics
Recently I was making a presentation to a friend of mine who runs a good business on the benefits of thebestofkerry. During our conversation he told me about the trouble he was having with the revenue commissioners in relation to his tax bill being overdue.
He runs a good business that is profitable but he is also owed alot of money at present for work that was carried out, therefore at present he is having difficulty in paying what is due to revenue, he showed me a letter from them stating that his past history was excellent but that if he did not pay the due amount in three weeks (which is only a little over €3000) they would be instructing the 'county sheriff to seize some of his assets. This to me is complete bully boy tactics on a small business with three full time staff. You would think that his past history with them would stand to give him some extra time to pay considering the current recession we find ourselves in.
It is small businesses like this that keeps the economy afloat and keeps money circulating at local level, the revenue should really be giving small businesses a little break at present otherwise they will end up putting businesses like this out of business altogether and costing the government more in social welfare payments etc.
Its not so long ago when a certain high profile person in this country owed the revenue several million euro but they settled for about 20% less then what was owed. It seems its far easier for them to walk all over small business for small money than it is to chase large businesses like the banks( who also settled for far less than was owed if im not mistaken) for money owed.