The Revenue has assured taxpayers who missed last night's deadline for filing their annual tax returns that they will not face late payment penalties because of technical problem on its website.
The Revenue online payment system suffered a series of technical glitches yesterday at peak business hours as self-employed taxpayers rushed to file their income tax returns.
A Revenue spokesman apologised for the technical problems and said the stoppages were not caused by a surge in online traffic. The Revenue received 25,000 completed online tax returns yesterday - the largest amount ever filed in a single day.
Although the Revenue could not give a figure on how many were affected by the stoppages it is believed the number will be relatively small when put against the record number of successful online returns this year.
The Revenue has not extended the deadline but said it would not fine any late filers who have made reasonable efforts to file their returns. The technical problems have now been resolved.
The Revenue's website Revenue.ie has experienced a sharp increase in traffic as increasing numbers conduct their tax affairs online.
In total over 205,000 tax returns were filed online this year worth a total of €1.4 billion.
The tax office received 65 per cent of all filings online this year compared to 53 per cent in 2004 and 40 per cent in 2003. The Revenue introduced its online system in 2002 when 9 per cent of taxpayers paid electronically.