Revenue Out of order????

Foxychick

Just putting this question out there.

Sorry longish story I'll make it a brief as I can.

My parents business had a tax audit yesterday, during the visit they were asked if they had a bank savings account at a specific location on numerous occasions, the accountants gave location, account number, interest on account, (not sure about amount in account but prob easy to it by calculating interest) to them. They stated no they didn't. Afterwards after thinking alot about it my mother and sister thought I may have an account there. Turned out its my account that they were referring to. (My name is not the same as my mothers so that shouldn't have been an issue)

My parents/family weren't aware I had a bank account there which isn't the issue its the fact that the Revenue disclosed personnel details of my account to a third party. I'm an adult in full time employment (nothing connected to my parents business) and have been paying tax etc for well over 10 years.


Rang bank this morning to see how they got information on my account, apparently Revenue gets list of saving accounts as tax is paid on them.
Raging the more I think of it, what would you do??

Pat Mustard

Foxychick wrote: »

what would you do??

The wording of one paragraph of your OP is a little unclear to me, but the issue appears to be about Revenue officials disclosing your personal and banking information.

I wouldn't be happy about that either.

Personally, I would probably not take it beyond a letter of complaint, and I am no fan of the Revenue Commissioners these days. That would probably be my personal decision where my parents were the only people to learn of my account.

However, if you wish to take the matter further, you could take a look here. I suppose that it is also open to you to consult a solicitor to ask if there is a possibility of an actionable breach of Revenue Law or the Revenue Customer Service Charter (or other duty of confidentiality).

McCrack

It hard for anybody to give an opinion here but I would flag the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner rather then Revenue's own internal complaints route.

I am not suggesting you have grounds to complain but I am pointing you to the appropriate and most effective body for data breaches.

Pat Mustard

McCrack wrote: »

It hard for anybody to give an opinion here but I would flag the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner rather then Revenue's own internal complaints route.

I am not suggesting you have grounds to complain but I am pointing you to the appropriate and most effective body for data breaches.

I would just point out that the link that I posted contained links to the Appeal Commissioners and the Ombudsman.

I have not checked if either of those can award damages.

Foxychick

Thanks for your replies, not looking for damages at all just was wondering if it was just me over reacting getting mad.

Torn between making an official complaint asking for an apology or just leaving it don't want to cause problems or stress for my parents.

Five Lamps

Is the address on the account the same as your parents address?

If so and an audit was taking place, it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to enquire about it.

As a general observation - We're all pretty disgusted when we hear about some of our Celtic Tiger darlings transferring assets into their spouses names. The flip side of this we can expect Revenue to ask a lot more questions when ordinary folks come under scrutiny. Though it seems that the ordinary folks end up paying all the time.

Fred Swanson

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sawdoubters

were you hiding the money from your family

very smart

Sheldons Brain

You are best to run it by the Data Protection Commissioner as see what they say about it.

+1

rock22

Foxychick wrote: »

... during the visit they were asked if they had a bank savings account at a specific location on numerous occasions, the accountants gave location, account number, interest on account, (not sure about amount in account but prob easy to it by calculating interest) to them.

They didn't disclose anything , they asked your mother about an account. That is their job.

Clearly from your post, they did not disclose your name . You disclosed to your mother that it was your account.

goldenhoarde

the information revenue received had something that tied it to your parents such as maiden name etc maybe you gave their address when the account was opened. they may have requested all accounts at their address i still have a student account at my parents address and then got all related accounts. as they are your parents there is tie that revenue found.

Five Lamps

Actually, none of the information that the Revenue disclosed is personal or sensitive information and none of it by itself could identify you. So it looks like Revenue have played a smart game.

Victor

Five Lamps wrote: »

Actually, none of the information that the Revenue disclosed is personal or sensitive information and none of it by itself could identify you. So it looks like Revenue have played a smart game.

I think they played it a bit too fast. The implication was that the account was owned by another family member.

Foxychick

Five Lamps wrote: »

Actually, none of the information that the Revenue disclosed is personal or sensitive information and none of it by itself could identify you. So it looks like Revenue have played a smart game.

Sorry forgot to say they had my PPS number which is bizarre because surely if they had any common since they would check it up and see that the PPS no. belonged to me not my parents.

TBH think they were just behaving like bullies who had a little bit of power and it is gone to they heads. Kept asking questions about another sibling that had nothing got to do with the business/audit.

Nasty pieces of work in my opinion but just going to let it go on my side was raging at the time but honestly could not be arsed wasting any more time or thoughts on them.

schemingbohemia

Foxychick wrote: »

Sorry forgot to say they had my PPS number which is bizarre because surely if they had any common since they would check it up and see that the PPS no. belonged to me not my parents.

TBH think they were just behaving like bullies who had a little bit of power and it is gone to they heads. Kept asking questions about another sibling that had nothing got to do with the business/audit.

Nasty pieces of work in my opinion but just going to let it go on my side was raging at the time but honestly could not be arsed wasting any more time or thoughts on them.

Well if you had to deal with people lying to your face day in and day out when you're trying to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid by everyone then you might ask a few more questions. By the way you are besmirching these people yet you weren't there you are relying on hearsay.

A lot of money is transferred illegally to family members to avoid tax, particularly in trades that deal with cash payments, it's a normal and appropriate question to ask.

Foxychick

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Well if you had to deal with people lying to your face day in and day out when you're trying to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid by everyone then you might ask a few more questions. By the way you are besmirching these people yet you weren't there you are relying on hearsay.

A lot of money is transferred illegally to family members to avoid tax, particularly in trades that deal with cash payments, it's a normal and appropriate question to ask.

Regardless confidential information should remain confidential unless proof exist that money was transferred or missing which it wasn't everything was accounted for nothing amiss at all. Power trip for those carrying out audit looking at information that had no relevance to the task they are employed to do.

Yes true I wasn't there as it had nothing to do with me therefore my information should have had absolutely nothing to do with the job that were employed to perform.

I myself work in a job where where confidentiality is of utmost importance and I know if I disclosed any information that I was not supposed to I would be hauled up to management and could possibly lose my job. Reality is there are standards and procedues in very job that must be adhered to, some people obliviously feel that they are above these rules.

Fred Swanson

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