The Department of Inland Revenue has written to two centenarians asking them to settle outstanding payments... only both have been dead for years.

The relatives of Josephine Psaila, who died 27 years ago, and Francis Borg, who died 19 years ago, received the letters informing them that if the outstanding amounts were settled immediately they would benefit from a 25 per cent discount.

If Ms Psaila were still alive she would be 100 years old and Mr Borg would have been a year older. Their families asked lawyers Josè Herrera and Veronique Dalli to write to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue informing him that both were deceased. In the letters, the lawyers thanked the commissioner for offering the discount!

In Mr Borg's case they wrote that "... unfortunately there seems to be a slight difficulty for Mr Borg to pay the department. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for us mortals he has passed on to a better life".

The letter continued that "it is a pity that Mr Borg cannot reciprocate this noble gesture but we are convinced that if he were still with us, he would be very moved with the new attitude of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue".

When contacted, George Borg, from the Inland Revenue, said that the electronically-generated letters had been sent to all those registered persons whose accounts were still in debit, including those deceased taxpayers who still had an outstanding balance on their account.

He explained that the heirs of such deceased persons inherited both the assets and the liabilities unless they renounced to their inheritance, in which case they would also be forfeiting both the liabilities and the assets.

As long as they were still legally considered as heirs, they were also liable to any tax balances their deceased relative owed to the Inland Revenue Department.