Kildare County Council’s Supplier Policy
This document sets out Kildare County Council’s policy in relation to the payment of invoices to its suppliers and potential suppliers.
Kildare County Council’s Commitment:
Kildare County Council is committed to:
- Paying our suppliers within a timeframe of 15 days. The 15 day period will commence:
- From the day on which a valid invoice is received in our accounts payable section.
- The date of receipt of the goods or services where the invoice is received before the goods or services.
- Any other date agreed in the contract.
- Monitoring our payment system regularly to ensure that payments are processed in a timely manner.
- Ensuring that we have a system in place to deal with disputes or queries efficiently. All efforts will be made to deal with disputes within 10 days.
- Fostering good relationships with our suppliers and providing contact details for dealing with staff.
- Giving clear guidance to suppliers on their role in ensuring timely payment of invoices.
Payment Methods:
Kildare County Council's preferred payment method is by means of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). In the case of all electronic payments, a payment notification giving details of the payment will be sent to the supplier by e-mail (where an e-mail address is provided) or by post.
In accordance with direction from the Department of Finance (Circular 1/2013) the public sector will no longer write cheques to business users from 19th September 2014 (‘e-Day’). However we may consider payment by cheque to consumers. Where payment is made by cheque, an attached advice note will provide details of the payment.
What is a valid invoice?
- Invoices received must have a valid Purchase Order Number. If there is no Purchase Order Number the invoice will NOT be paid but will be rejected and returned to you. To ensure that there are no delays with payment please request a Purchase Order number when goods and/or services are being
ordered from you. Please ensure that you quote a price to the person ordering the goods and/or services. Goods/Services should be received to the quality and quantity that is expected.
- A valid invoice must include the following information:
a) Valid Kildare County Council Purchase Order Number
b) Invoice Number
c) Date of Invoice
d) Valid VAT/PPSN or other Tax Reference Number1
e) Current rate of VAT/Reverse Charge
f) Preferably your Supplier Number.
- Paper invoices must be submitted directly to the Accounts Payable Section and not to the section who ordered the goods/services:
Accounts Payable Section, Kildare County Council, Aras Chill Dara,
Devoy Park, Naas,
- Electronic invoices must be emailed in a PDF format to the following e-mail address: accountspayable@kildarecoco.ie
- Please submit your invoice once only – either by post or email not both.
Tax Clearance
Payments to our suppliers are subject to the Tax Clearance system. Where confirmation of a supplier’s valid tax clearance status is not available payment will be withheld until valid tax clearance is provided. Such payments are outside of the scope of the 15 day timeframe.
Amendments to Supplier Details
If there are any changes to your Supplier information e.g. bank details, VAT number, address please advise us in writing to accountspayable@kildarecoco.ie including a contact name and number that can be used for verification.
1 RETURNS OF PAYMENTS (GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER BODIES) REGULATIONS 2011
obliges us to request these numbers. These regulations also require us to report to Revenue on our payments made to all suppliers.
Complaints
If, as a supplier to Kildare County Council, you are not happy with the quality of the service you have received from us, or wish to complain about a late payment received, you should contact us directly. We welcome all feedback and will deal with your complaints/queries/suggestions in a timely and confidential manner. The steps to follow are set out below:
Step 1: Contact the accounts payable section at accountspayable@kildarecoco.ie detailing the nature of your complaint.
Step 2: If you are not satisfied with the response received from the above, you should contact:
Head of Finance Aras Chill Dara, Devoy Park, Naas,
Step 3: If, after you have been through our procedures and you are still not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Ombudsman. By law, the Ombudsman can investigate complaints about any of our administrative actions or procedures as well as delays or inaction in our dealings with you. The Ombudsman provides a free, impartial and independent dispute resolution service. Contact details are as follows:
Office of the Ombudsman, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2
Lo-call 1890 22 30 30 , Tel: 01 639 5600 Fax: 01 639 5674
Website: http://www.ombudsman.ie/
