The Revenue Service has sent out more than 30,000 assessments over the past four months, 11,196 of which advised that a repayment was due.
But by the end of last week, only 138 repayment cheques had been sent out.
A statement from the Revenue Service, which is the responsibility of the Policy & Resources Committee, said the figures provided to the Guernsey Press ‘highlight the scale of the task ahead’ and that the backlog had no end in sight.
‘We are sorry that we are unable to give a timeframe on when repayments will be received but, having previously focused on issuing tens of thousands of assessments, issuing repayments is now our top priority,’ said a spokesman.
‘As we are continuing to familiarise ourselves with a new system, we are carrying out more checks than we were previously.
‘We apologise for the time that it has taken to issue repayments and understand the impact that this can have on islanders’ finances, and consequently their wellbeing.’
Assessments and repayments were put on hold in December, as a new IT system was introduced, but the previous P&R said they were being issued again by February.
Some taxpayers have received assessments covering multiple years which state that tax is owed for one year, but that a repayment is due for another year.
The Revenue Service clarified that taxpayers do not need to pay anything if the sum due as a repayment exceeds the amount of tax owed, as this will be taken into account when a repayment cheque was issued.
New P&R president Lindsay de Sausmarez told the States last week that previous assurances of imminent improvements at the Revenue Service had been unrealistic and declined requests to provide a target date for when it would return to normal operating conditions.
States chief executive Boley Smillie said he could ‘guarantee improvement over the coming months’ and that at some point in the future the Revenue Service would be seen ‘as an example of the way to manage change’ within the States.
For the time being, however, thousands of customers owed repayments are asked to be patient as staff work through a mountainous backlog.
‘There is not a set amount of time that we would encourage people to wait before calling to chase a repayment, but please be assured that we are working through these,’ said the spokesman.
One man waiting for a cheque described the delay as ‘frustrating’.
‘I’m owed about £100. To be honest it was a shock to receive the assessment, and a pleasant surprise to see I was owed something,’ he said.
‘My wife then received her assessment about a week later and she is owed considerably more. We thought that could help with a holiday, but summer’s dragging on and we’re still waiting. It seems now that we won’t see any cash before we go away next month.’
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