The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) said that extra effort will be needed to ensure the tax changes from the April Budget are applied consistently and fairly.
"There is needless complication over the way changes to Mortgage Interest Relief and the Income Levy are to be applied. The Mortgage Interest Relief change should be straightforward, yet we find that Revenue are to withhold relief to many thousands of taxpayers who retain their entitlement, until Revenue get their records sorted out. This is unprecedented. Tax changes must be applied fairly" according to ICAI Director of Taxation Brian Keegan.
"In the past, where a tax change has had to be made quickly, Revenue would give the taxpayer the benefit of any doubt and make adjustments subsequently as required."
ICAI points out that there is also confusion over Income Levy changes. "Two levies were increased in the April Budget. The Income Levy was doubled, but with retrospective effect to 1 January 2009. The Health Contribution was also doubled, but without retrospective effect. This means that a PAYE taxpayer earning, say a higher rate of pay, or who took a redundancy payment prior to 1 May becomes liable for an additional Income Levy. They won't though pay an additional Health Contribution".
While changes made during a tax year are more complicated than changes at the start of a year, the Institute maintains that effectiveness could be achieved. "It's normal for Revenue to have only a few weeks between Budget Day and the effective date of a tax change. There is still a window of opportunity to correct these anomalies before the Finance Bill is published next week" said Keegan.