Revenue Commission chairman Mr Dermot Quigley yesterday criticised Irish businesses for their lack of preparation for the euro.

Only 0.4 per cent of employers PAYE/PRSI and VAT returns and 1.6 per cent of customs automated entry processing were completed in euros in 2000, despite the Revenue's promotion of early changeover by business of tax and customs affairs, Mr Quigley said.

Speaking at the ISME annual conference, Mr Quigley said he was concerned that the low level of migration to euro suggests that business is adopting a "big bang" approach, which could lead to IT and accounting bottlenecks, and disruption to some businesses.

"Against a background of slow preparations by business, our changeover planning has now to be based on the assumption that the majority of businesses will continue to trade and keep their accounts in Irish pounds up to December 31st, 2001," he said.

The Revenue Commissioners will issue an updated changeover guide detailing how they will deal with customers' tax and custom affairs after January 1st, 2002, said Mr Quigley.

In relation to e-commerce, Mr Quigley said one of the commissioners' priorities would be to ensure that they do not impose heavy tax compliance burdens that would drive the State's eentrepreneurs abroad.

He also said SMEs that remain in "traditional" commerce must not be placed at a competitive disadvantage to companies that take the e-commerce route.