Regardless of filing on line there are times you do need to talk to someone to correct problems.
As for ways to shortcut the system, how's your Irish? You by-pass all the automated stuff and instead you get a startled gaelgoir on the line - any half-hearted go at the Irish tends to work if you get a decent sort on the line.
Apart from that their phone system is appalling, designed to frustrate callers into giving up. A voice recognition system that makes you feel like you're shouting at someone with mental health and hearing issues. Give it a try if you want to pass 15 mins - there's no danger of a real person picking up. You're only wasting the time of a recorded message. It was even worse a few years ago, the only phone system I'd ever encountered with many dead ends where the automated service just hangs up on you.
When you get through to an individual their single aim is to get you off the phone line, e.g. youneedtocontactthecollectorgeneralgoodbye-click. Another sucessful call by their metrics, naturally you didn't get time to tell them it was the collector general who sent you on to them.
You get the clear feeling you're dealing with amateurs.
I'd hoped the LPT would have exposed to the general public what Revenue are really like to contact, but they were wise to this and sub-contracted the LPT work out to Abtran.
It's faintly amusing to hear revenue officials on the radio talking about LPT and how the revenue phone lines are open from 7-10pm. Yeah sure they are, just try phoning the real revenue phone line after 4pm any day.