Revenue has said it will work with hundreds of subcontractors, franchisees and solo contractors who are facing an uncertain financial future after Fastway Couriers went into receivership earlier this week.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Revenue acknowledged that it is a “worrying time for those affected” and said it would adopt a “pragmatic” approach.
It committed to working with individual couriers and businesses that have been adversely impacted “to ensure that good compliance records can remain on track despite the loss of their contracts with Fastway”.
A spokesman for the Irish Road Haulage Association said on Wednesday that some of its members are owed more than €100,000 by the company.
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A spokesman for the Nuvion Group, which owns Fastway, announced it was going into receivership late on Tuesday and said the “business has faced sustained inflation, rising operating costs and ongoing price pressures across the parcels market, which have made it no longer viable in its current form”.
The move prompted immediate concerns over the future of 300 people who are employed directly by the company and around 700 others who work for it on a contract basis – mostly delivering parcels.
An online meeting called by the receivers, Mark Degnan and Brendan O’Reilly of Interpath, for the company’s 300 directly employed staff was held on Wednesday. Many had only heard their jobs were at stake when they were told to stop work on Tuesday afternoon.
There is said to have been a good deal of anger expressed at the meeting over the sudden nature of the news at a firm.
In its statement Revenue said the receivership could impact some contractors “timely tax compliance” and said it would be “pragmatic in its approach where couriers experience cash flow difficulties as a result of the loss of business or payments following the closure of Fastway.”
It noted that Revenue has “a proven track record in successfully agreeing flexible payment arrangements where businesses are facing temporary cash flow difficulties, and we will work with those affected by the closure of Fastway to take their financial circumstances and capacity to pay into account.”
Revenue has advised individual couriers and businesses experiencing cash flow difficulties as a result of the disruption caused by the closure of Fastway “to contact the Collector-General’s office as quickly as possible, to agree mutually suitable arrangements to ensure their timely tax compliance record remains on track.”
