A meeting is taking place today between the Pensions Ombudsman and officials from the Revenue Commissioners over the pensioner-tax controvery.
Some 115,000 pensioners received letters telling them they owe extra tax as a result of new communication between Revenue and the Department of Social Protection.
Ombudsman Paul Kenny said Revenue needed to apologise for the way it handled the matter and that elderly people had been calling his office in tears.
"It has been intimidating for elderly people…People are desperately worried in some cases," he said.
"The idea that the collection of arrears is a more or less open-ended thing is a problem for people (because) even if you owe a very small amount of money, if you're on a very tiny income, it's not going to be easy to pay it."
He said he hoped that those who owed a very small amount of money would not be pursued.
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