Friday, December 03, 2010
CHARIOT (Chartered Accountants Reference and Information Tool) has now been updated online. CHARIOT online is a free CAI Members (including Students) only service. You will need your Member ID and password to access CHARIOT .If you have forgotten your password, you can submit a reset pass.....
Friday, December 03, 2010
The Companies Registration Office has issued a notice in their latest interim eZine that it wishes to advise companies and presenters that as and from 1 January 2011, CRO will be strictly enforcing the existing statutory requirement that all auditors’ reports must be signed and dated.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
The 12.5% Rate of Corporation Tax remains unchanged under the Joint Programme as outlined last evening. The Joint Programme posits 2015 rather than the 2014 date in the Four Year Plan as the target date for bringing the Budget Deficit to within 3% of GDP. We understand from the De.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
Last week was a busy week for the Commission, which issued infringement proceeds at varying levels not just against Ireland (see above) but also to France, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands and Belgium. The Commission will bring France before the Court of Justice of the European Union for faili.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
While you might expect the European Commission to focus on weightier matters, last week came a reminder that the millstone of bureaucracy grinds very fine. The Commission has referred Ireland to the ECJ over its application of a 4.8% reduced VAT rate for supplies of horses and greyhounds. &nb.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
HMRC have recently updated the VAT online guidance on their website here and here. This takes into account feedback particularly in the following areas: Inclusion of a strong recommendation that the business set up an email reminder as they will no longer receive a paper VAT return through the post.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
HMRC has published draft legislation, an explanatory note and an updated technical note relating to the collection and management of the Bank Levy. The government previously issued a consultation document on the Bank Levy in July with the period for consultation running until 5 October 2010. The ob.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
It was a busy week last week with 10 new statutory instruments and Explanatory Memorandums published by HMRC dealing with Double Tax Agreements or International Tax Enforcement matters with countries ranging from Singapore to Austria. For more information see here. Included in the mix is The Double.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
From April 2011, payments for Class 2 National Insurance contributions will become due on 31 January and 31 July the same dates as income tax under Self Assessment. Taxpayers will receive just two payment requests from HMRC in the year (instead of four bills) with these requests being issued in Oct.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
Further to our note last week regarding the above, HMRC have confirmed that the ongoing processing of 2009/10 P11D returns may result in HMRC issuing revised P800’s for 2009/10 as a result of P11D items not having been included in the original calculation. In specific cases, this can be result in r.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
The November issue of tax.point; Chartered Accountants Ireland’s monthly tax bulletin for tax professionals and the official journal for Chartered Tax Consultants, is now available. In this month’s issue Gerry Higgins reviews the new Code of Practice for Revenue Audit. Grace Brennan ove.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
Revenue has published an updated leaflet on Medical Insurance Relief – IT 5. The leaflet sets out the arrangements for the granting of tax relief on medical insurance premiums. Revenue has also published a number of updated lists; authorised charities under the terms of section 848A TCA 1997, bodie.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 was signed into law last week. The Act, which is Number 31 of 2010, will be available in due course on the Oireachtas website. Revenue has issued eBrief No. 86/10 which sets out some further information on the status of the Act.....
Monday, November 29, 2010
Revenue has announced that an extended e-Registration service is available on ROS from today. This extended service will allow registered ROS users to, Register a new business on-line for Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Employers PAYE/PRSI, Value Added Tax, Relevant Contracts Tax, and e-Levy Register .....
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Government’s Four Year Recovery Plan, which was published on Wednesday 24 November, contains a set of revenue measures, principally taxation, which are expected to increase Government revenues by €5 billion over the 4 year life of the Plan. Of these taxation measures, the Minister for Finance a.....
Friday, November 26, 2010
While you might expect the European Commission to focus on weightier matters, this week came a reminder that the millstone of bureaucracy grinds very fine. The Commission has referred Ireland to the ECJ over its application of a 4.8% reduced VAT rate for supplies of horses and greyhounds. &nb.....
Friday, November 26, 2010
Penalties for filing late CIS contractor monthly returns are changing from October 2011. In many (but not all) cases, the new penalties will be less than what would be charged now. In particular, for new CIS contractors, there will be an upper limit to some of the penalties that are charged. This u.....
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Government’s Four Year Recovery Plan, which was published on Wednesday 24 November, contains a set of revenue measures, principally taxation, which are expected to increase Government revenues by €5 billion over the 4 year life of the Plan. Of these taxation measures, the Minister for Finance a.....
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which develops and promotes global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, have set out in the FATF 40 Recommendations and the 9 Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing. Moving towards the end of its 3rd Round of Mutu.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
Following this morning’s announcement by one of the Government coalition partners, it is now almost inevitable that there will be a General Election between Budget Day, 7 December, and the customary date for the passing of its corresponding Finance Act in March 2011. Accordingly the status of.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
At the Symposium on International Fiscal Data Exchange held on 16 November, Commissioner Šemeta spoke on the importance of promoting good governance in the area of tax. He noted that the EU must step up its fight against tax fraud and tax evasion, and continue to lead the campaign for good go.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Council held a policy debate on proposals for a directive and a regulation aimed at clarifying the rules on the VAT treatment of insurance services and other financial services. The Commission's proposals set out: to clarify the definitions of exempt services, thereby increasing legal cer.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
HMRC have published some questions and answers for employers about the new rules in respect of salary sacrifice for canteen arrangements which are effective from 6 April 2011. Some employers have put in place arrangements that combine salary sacrifice or flexible remuneration arrangements with the .....
Monday, November 22, 2010
From 29 November 2010, HMRC contact centre opening times are being realigned to allow more staff to answer calls during the busy periods. Having carried out consultation on the matter, HMRC have decided to no longer open contact centres on Sundays in order to redeploy staff to the peak periods thro.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
Penalties for filing late CIS contractor monthly returns are changing from October 2011. In many (but not all) cases, the new penalties will be less than what would be charged now. In particular, for new CIS contractors, there will be an upper limit to some of the penalties that are charged. This u.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
HMRC have provided us with an update on the above together with some questions and answers which practitioners may find useful. HMRC advise that processing of P11D’s for 2009/10 has been delayed in order to ensure that the interface with ECS (which P11D information is initially transferred onto) an.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has announced that it is carrying out a review into all tax reliefs, allowances and exemptions, for businesses and individuals, across all the taxes administered by HMRC. The Chancellor has asked the OTS to identify reliefs that should be simplified or repeale.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
Revenue has confirmed that, on foot of Council Directive 2010/66/EU, the deadline for submission of refund applications in respect of Value Added Tax expenditure incurred in 2009 by taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State has, as an exce.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
Following the extended eFiling deadline which expired on 16 November last, we understand from the Collector General’s office that almost 80% of all Form 11s filed this year were filed on-line. It seems that there is also, for all practical purposes, full take-up of electronic filing by agents.....
Monday, November 22, 2010
At the time of writing, the Government’s Four Year Recovery plan is due for publication on Wednesday 24 November next. It will undoubtedly hold significant pointers to the tax changes to be announced on Budget Day, 7 December next. It is unlikely however to contain any indications that .....
Friday, November 19, 2010
Following the extended eFiling deadline which expired on 16 November last, we understand from the Collector General’s office that almost 80% of all Form 11s filed this year were filed on-line. It seems that there is also, for all practical purposes, full take-up of electronic filing by agents.....
Friday, November 19, 2010
The recently signed ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ comprises clarification on Liechtenstein’s five-year taxpayer assistance and compliance program (TACP) in addition to the five-year special disclosure facility (LDF) by HMRC for persons wishing to regularise their UK tax affairs. Last year, the Gove.....
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Council held a policy debate on proposals for a directive and a regulation aimed at clarifying the rules on the VAT treatment of insurance services and other financial services. The Commission's proposals set out: to clarify the definitions of exempt services, thereby increasing legal cer.....
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has this week published a Financial Reporting Standard (FRS)‘Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards 2010’. The ASB is publishing this FRS so as to maintain the existing levels of convergence between UK and International Financial Reporting Standards .....
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the United Kingdom’s independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment, has published two documents highlighting the latest challenges being faced by audit committees and users of actuarial inf.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Deputy Secretary-General and Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan presented the OECD’s report on international tax evasion to G20 Finance Ministers in Seoul on 12 November. Mr Padoan noted that more than 500 information exchange agreements have been signed with more than 40 peer reviews to evalu.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
The Commission has published new import and export procedures as well as updated import and export scenarios, export fallback rules and frequently asked questions on entry summary declarations. For full details see here.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Almost 50 contributions were received from the public in response to the OECD’s July 2010 call for comments on the scoping of the new project on the Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles to be undertaken in 2011. The OECD recently met with commentators from the private sector to discuss the comme.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Revenue has identified two issues in relation to the 2009 Form 11. The first issue concerns the calculation of income tax due on both the ROS on-line and ROS off-line Form 11 where the high-income individuals restriction applies and the individual has Irish deposit interest, which has suffere.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Minister for Social Protection, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, has signed an agreement on social security with Japan. The main purpose of the Agreement, which will come into effect on 1 December 2010, is to protect the pension rights of migrant workers who move between Ireland and Japan. .....
Monday, November 15, 2010
An individual who uses his/her private car for business purposes and is not reimbursed by his/her employer can claim relief for car expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of those employment duties. The relevant claim form for running expenses and capital allowances is available her.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Revenue has published a new guidance leaflet on the income tax exemption and marginal relief for 2010. The leaflet sets out how the exemption for income tax is granted and the operation of marginal relief.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Revenue has advised that for 2010, employers will be required to use their own stationery to print P60s for their employees. A Revenue approved template of the P60 is available on the Revenue On-Line Service (ROS) Offline application. This can be accessed on the Revenue website under the ROS .....
Monday, November 15, 2010
HMRC has updated the list of rates for expenses payments that can be made to employees travelling outside the UK without deduction of tax. For further information see here.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
The recently signed ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ comprises clarification on Liechtenstein’s five-year taxpayer assistance and compliance program (TACP) in addition to the five-year special disclosure facility (LDF) by HMRC for persons wishing to regularise their UK tax affairs. Last year, the Gove.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
A Protocol amending the United Kingdom's Double Taxation Convention with South Africa was signed on 8 November 2010. South Africa is changing its system of taxing dividends paid to non-residents by abolishing its Secondary tax on Companies and introducing a withholding tax. The Protocol amends the .....
Monday, November 15, 2010
HMRC have published transitional arrangements for smaller charities required to file their accounts online using iXBRL. If a charity has to prepare accounts under the Companies Act 2006 or Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968, the new rules require the accounts and computations .....
Monday, November 15, 2010
HMRC has published the following briefs. Brief 44/10 deals with the VAT treatment of business entertainment provided to overseas customers in the light of the European Courts of Justice judgment in the joined case of Danfoss and AstraZeneca. Brief 47/10 exposes draft legislation amending the P.....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Following the Chancellor’s announcement that the Budget would be held on 23 March 2011, the Exchequer Secretary (David Gauke MP) confirmed in a written statement to Parliament that the Government will publish draft clauses planned for Finance Bill 2011 on 9 December. Alongside the publication of th.....
Friday, November 12, 2010
Almost 50 contributions were received from the public in response to the OECD’s July 2010 call for comments on the scoping of the new project on the Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles to be undertaken in 2011. The OECD recently met with commentators from the private sector to discuss the comme.....
Friday, November 12, 2010
Following the Chancellor's announcement that the Budget would be held on 23 March 2011, the Exchequer Secretary (David Gauke MP) has now confirmed in a written statement to Parliament that the Government will publish draft clauses planned for Finance Bill 2011 on 9 December. Alongside the publicati.....
Friday, November 12, 2010
Revenue has identified two issues in relation to the 2009 Form 11. The first issue concerns the calculation of income tax due on both the ROS on-line and ROS off-line Form 11 where the high-income individuals restriction applies and the individual has Irish deposit interest, which has suffere.....
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), recently published a first-stage consultation document designed to solicit input on the strategy of the IFRS Foundation as it enters its second decade. The Trustees initiated th.....
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Chinese Auditing Standards Board (CASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) met this week to discuss convergence of international standards.“As the largest developing country in the world, China firmly supports the efforts of the International Federation of Acco.....
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Following consultation earlier this year the Central Bank of Ireland has issued its Corporate Governance Code for Credit Institutions and Insurance firms which sets out minimum statutory requirements on how banks and insurance companies should organise the governance of their institutio.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
Following a request for confirmation from our members, we wish to advise all readers that where a taxpayer qualifies for the extended ROS Pay & File deadline of 16 November 2010, this extended deadline also applies to RAC, PRSA and AVC contributions. Readers are reminded that in order to .....
Monday, November 08, 2010
A new Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Liberia was signed in London on 1 November 2010. The Contracting Parties have agreed to provide assistance through exchange of information that is ‘foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws concerning taxes’. There .....
Monday, November 08, 2010
HMRC has published guidance for taxpayers and Agents who want to submit company accounts online to HMRC as part of a Company Tax Return, and also to send these or an abbreviated version to Companies House. The guide explains who can use this software, provides important information that needs to be.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
Statutory Instrument 2483 and the Explanatory Memorandum have now been published. The order amends the technologies included in the enhanced capital allowance (ECA) scheme for water efficient technologies and takes effect from today 8 November 2010. The ECA scheme for environmentally beneficial tec.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
HMRC has provided an update on the revised turnaround times for the processing of paper forms 64-8 and registrations for Self Assessment and self-employment. In August 2010 HMRC announced they had redeployed resources to ‘higher priority’ work and that this would result in longer turnaround times f.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
HMRC have published draft regulations to deal with mismatches that arise in two separate sets of circumstances in the Worldwide Debt Cap legislation. The first circumstance is where there is a difference in the amount of a financial liability of a relevant group company disclosed in the accounts of.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee recently held the first evidence session as part of it’s inquiry into Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland. Chair of the Northern Ireland Tax Committee of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Mr Eamonn Donaghy, presented oral evidence to the Committee in Westminster .....
Monday, November 08, 2010
The OECD’s latest publication on tax evasion shows how 39 countries deal with offshore tax evasion, comparing the case where a taxpayer makes a voluntary disclosure with the case where he has not. The study looks at what penalties are imposed, what interest rate is charged, what tax is due an.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
The OECD launched a new report exploring the relationship between environmentally related taxation and innovation. The report examines questions such as do environmentally related taxes spur innovation? What types of innovation result? Does the design of the tax play a critical role? What is .....
Monday, November 08, 2010
Companies or their agents should forward a fully completed "RICT Outline" Form to Revenue on or before 18 November 2010 if a company intends to raise BES investments on or before 31 December 2010, and wishes to obtain advance approval from Revenue in respect of such a share issue. Readers are advis.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
Revenue’s stamping operations will be centralised to the Stamping Office, Dublin Castle from 1 December 2010. The Stamping offices in Cork and Galway will close on that date and all new stamp duty cases will be dealt with in Dublin. Transitional arrangements will apply from 1 November 2010 fo.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
As previously reported in Chartered Accountants News, reductions in the frequency of PAYE/PRSI and VAT tax returns and payments for smaller businesses will again be extended to eligible businesses from 1 January 2011. Similar arrangements in respect of RCT will also become available from that date......
Monday, November 08, 2010
Revenue has published a revised version of the Code of Practice for Revenue Audit. Some minor adjustments, for presentation purposes, have been made to the version that was posted in September. The only changes to text were at the paragraph dealing with Mitigation of Penalties/Reduced Penalti.....
Monday, November 08, 2010
Corporation tax receipts for October are 22% up on expected revenue from this tax head resulting in additional €473m tax revenue. Receipts from customs also exceeded expectations by 14.2%. The additional returns from corporation tax and customs offset the shortfall in income tax and CAT.....
Friday, November 05, 2010
INFORMATION SHEET 05/2010 POBAL - Independent reconciliation with POBAL Expenditure returns This Information Sheet has been issued by Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies in Ireland (CCAB-I) as information for members who have clients that currently receive funding by POBAL for variou.....
Friday, November 05, 2010
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has released a progress report on its project to monitor the implementation of its clarified ISAs. The report—Implementation of the Clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISAs)—highlights key findings from the first phase of t.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
The Commission has also formally requested the Czech Republic and Sweden to amend discriminatory provisions with regard to the taxation of pensions. The discriminatory regimes in question relate to the favourable tax treatment domestic pension insurance schemes receive compared to similar foreign s.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
France has also been formally requested by the Commission to amend its legislation governing its tax shield and the capping of the solidarity tax on wealth in order to bring it into line with European Union law, particularly in relation to the free movement of persons, workers and capital. The requ.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
The Commission has formally asked Belgium to end the discriminatory treatment of non‑residents working in the Flemish Region and the discriminatory treatment concerning the interest paid to other Member States' financial institutions. These requests take the form of reasoned opinions. If there is n.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
The European Commission set out a series of solutions in two reports aimed at boosting the single market. In the EU Citizenship Report, the Commission proposes measures to assist citizens exercise their EU rights to get married, buy a house or register a car in another EU country. To boost growth, .....
Monday, November 01, 2010
Agent Update 20, the bi-monthly round up of the latest developments in tax, HMRC service and consultations has been published for accountants and tax professionals. .....
Monday, November 01, 2010
From April 2011 there will be changes to Employer Supported Childcare (ESC). HMRC have published some questions and answers about how these changes will affect employers and employees. Employer-supported childcare schemes are voluntary arrangements. The Government supports these initiatives w.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
This newly published brief announces the suspension of the Northern Ireland Aggregates Levy Credit Scheme with effect from 1 December 2010. Operators in Northern Ireland who have been eligible for relief under this scheme will have to pay the full rate of Aggregate Levy of £2.00 per tonne on the su.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
HMRC has announced that the Capital Allowances Manual will be updated with immediate effect to reflect the revised guidance on the meaning of a 'dwelling-house' for the purposes of the Capital Allowances Act 2001. In 2008 HMRC sought comments on certain proposed revisions to guidance in the Capital.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
HM Treasury was in contact with Chartered Accountants Ireland to provide a short update on the Government’s commitment to building a new approach to tax policy making in the UK. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke also confirmed a move away this year from ‘the significant policy changes.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
A Double Taxation Agreement between Ireland and Singapore was signed in Singapore on 28 October 2010. The signing of this Double Taxation Agreement brings to 61 the number of comprehensive double taxation agreements which Ireland has signed. Negotiations for new agreements with Armenia, Kuwai.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
The VAT Consolidation Bill 2010 was published last week. The purpose of the Bill is to consolidate the law relating to Value Added Tax. The Explanatory Memorandum and the Memorandum, which indicates where in the new Bill the corresponding provisions in the Value-Added Tax Act 1972 (whic.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
Arising out of the recent judgment of the ECJ case Leo-Libera GmbH v Finanzamt Buchholz in der Nordheide C-58/09 (“Leo Libera”) Revenue has clarified the correct VAT treatment of income from gambling. Casino businesses, which to date have been incorrectly treating the income from gambling as exempt.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
Subcontractors, with a C2 expiry date of 31 December 2010, should note that Revenue is currently reviewing their entitlement to renew their C2 card for 2011. Letters have issued to subcontractors who, according to Revenue records, have outstanding liabilities and/or returns. Subcontract.....
Monday, November 01, 2010
Revenue has published an updated guide to Capital Gains Tax. The guide reflects the legislation in place as at 1 September 2010. .....
Monday, November 01, 2010
Following a request for clarification on the deductibility of the NPPR charge, we wish to remind all readers that Revenue’s view, as communicated to Chartered Accountants Ireland, is that the €200 NPPR charge is not an allowable expense in computing taxable rental income. Revenue has con.....