As Ireland prepares to take on the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU for the 8th time from July, we advocate a solutions-driven approach, advancing competitiveness, regulatory simplification, coherence, consistency and long-term economic resilience. By fostering open dialogue, communicating the benefits of EU membership, and involving our members and networks, on behalf of our 40,000 members, we will support a Presidency that advances policy but also builds ownership and delivers meaningful outcomes for people, businesses, and communities.   Read the Consultation response

IAASA has published its observations on Wave 1 CSRD reporting, summarising key findings from their supervisory work during the first year of CSRD implementation in Ireland. The paper provides insights from corporate reporting examinations, assurance quality inspections, and highlights the challenges faced by entities and audit firms as they adapt to evolving sustainability reporting requirements. Despite ongoing uncertainties surrounding the Omnibus Directive, IAASA’s supervisory remit for Wave 1 CSRD reporting will continue into 2026. The paper also sets out key messages for the year ahead, including IAASA’s approach in the context of an evolving regulatory landscape. 👉 Read the observations paper to understand the findings and prepare for 2026.

Further investment in HMRC’s debt management capabilities and a range of measures to close the tax gap featured as part of the Autumn Budget’s announcements. The Budget also announced some minor reforms to simplify reporting requirements and announced that further reforms to “streamline processes and improve the taxpayer experience” will be announced by HMRC at an event in Spring 2026. These reforms aim to build on HMRC’s Transformation Roadmap. The news also broke that as part of HMRC’s plans to achieve 90 percent digital interactions by 2029/30, from March 2026 HMRC will stop sending outbound letters which will instead be replaced by digital notifications. More informaticaon is available in the policy paper ‘Modernising digital outbound communications.’ Anyone who still wishes to receive paper communications will need to opt-out of digital communications in order to do so. HMRC debt management £64 million is to be invested over the next five years in HMRC’s existing partnerships with private sector debt collection agencies to collect more tax debt, with £89 million to be invested over the next five years to fund additional staff to increase HMRC’s capacity to collect more tax debt. An updated tax debt strategy was also published at the Budget which outlines HMRC’s approach to reducing tax debt as a percentage of receipts, and to improving debt management and taxpayer support. Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) HMRC’s powers to tackle fraud within the CIS are to be strengthened following the announcement that regulations for technical consultation will be published which aim to simplify and improve the administration of the scheme. The changes will take effect from 6 April 2026 and are being legislated for in Finance Bill 2025/26. Rewards for informants of high-value tax fraud The rewards paid to informants who provide HMRC with high-value information increased with immediate effect from Budget Day. For cases where tax over £1.5 million is recovered, HMRC will now pay rewards up to 30 percent of the additional tax collected that would otherwise have gone unpaid. Promoters of marketed tax avoidance New powers to close in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance are being legislated for in Finance Bill 2025/26. A consultation on further measures to tackle promoters is also to be launched in early 2026. Enhancing HMRC’s powers and sanctions against tax adviser facilitated non-compliance Earlier this year the Government consulted on the introduction of enhanced powers and sanctions to tackle tax advisers who facilitate non-compliance. Chartered Accountants Ireland responded to this technical consultation in September. The draft legislation for these powers is included in Finance Bill 2025/26 and will take effect from 1 April 2026. Non-compliance on the high street A new dedicated small business evasion and enforcement team is to be established to tackle non-compliance on the high street. The team will also deploy 350 HMRC criminal investigators to carry out more targeted criminal interventions to take on the most serious fraud and evasion by small businesses. Electronic sales suppression A call for evidence will be published in early 2026 which will set out the software standards for the Electronic and Mobile Point of Sale Sector that will also explore how best to embed standards across the latest products and innovations. Non-derecognition liabilities The government introduced a new anti-avoidance provision relating to certain arrangements where there is a non-derecognition liability from 26 November 2025 which is being legislated for in Finance Bill 2025/26. Recklessness offence for direct tax A consultation will launch in early 2026 on the introduction of a new ‘recklessness’ criminal offence for fraudulently evading direct taxes in order to align this with existing indirect tax offences. Hidden economy: expanding tax conditionality to new sectors The Government published a summary of responses to the ‘Tackling the hidden economy by expanding tax conditionality to new sectors’ consultation at the Budget and at the same time confirmed plans to extend tax conditionality to the waste and animal welfare sectors and additional transport licences. Draft legislation will be published for technical consultation in 2026. Publication of deliberate defaulters The framework for how HMRC publishes the details of deliberate defaulters is to be reformed in order to ‘bring forward changes next year.’ Making better use of third-party data The Government will acquire third-party data more frequently for interest income and card sales from April 2028. This is being legislated for in Finance Bill 2025/26. Cryptoasset Reporting Framework UK reporting Cryptoasset Service Providers will be required to report on their UK tax resident customers under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework. Information for first reports to HMRC will be collected from 1 January 2026 and reported to HMRC in 2027. Enhancing tax transparency on real estate The UK is participating in a new international agreement underpinned by the OECD which will tackle tax evasion by providing for the automatic exchange of readily available information on real estate. Business systems integration To enable the automatic transfer of sales and purchase data into businesses’ accounting software, a Call for Evidence will be published in early 2026 to develop options to increase the uptake of business systems integration. Uncertain tax treatments A consultation will be launched in early 2026 on proposals to enhance the existing notification regime for uncertain tax treatments. Offshore anti-avoidance The Government set out its commitment ‘to ambitious reform and substantial simplification of the Personal Tax Offshore Anti-Avoidance Legislation.’ As a result, next steps for the Personal Tax Offshore Anti-Avoidance Call for Evidence were published.

From the tax treatment of State pension income above the frozen personal allowance threshold to company car and van tax, a range of measures featured in the Budget Red Book. The State pension The basic and new State pension will each increase by 4.8 percent from April 2026. The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will also be uprated by the same amount from the same date. Pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State pension (without any increments) have been told they will not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027/28 if the new or basic State pension exceeds the personal allowance from that point. How this will work operationally is currently being explored with more detail expected next year. Company car and van tax The van benefit charge and the car and van fuel benefit charges will increase by Consumer Price Index inflation from 6 April 2026. A temporary benefit in kind tax easement for plugin hybrid electric vehicles will be included in the benefit in kind (BIK) system to prevent their tax charge increasing significantly due to new emissions standards. This easement will apply from 1 January 2025 to 5 April 2028. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced that it would bring employee car ownership schemes into the scope of the BIK rules from 6 April 2026. To allow more time for the sector to prepare for and adapt to this change, implementation is being delayed to 6 April 2030, with transitional arrangements to apply until April 2031. Oil and gas price mechanism The temporary Energy Profits Levy (EPL) will be replaced by the permanent Oil and Gas Profits Mechanism (OGPM). This will be a revenue-based mechanism which only operates in times of high prices and will replace the EPL when it ends in 2030, or earlier if the EPL price floor is triggered. The rate will be 35 percent with thresholds of $90/barrel (oil) and 90p/therm (gas). Share Incentive Plan (SIP) A summary of responses to the 2023 Call for Evidence on the SIP and Save As You Earn were published alongside the Budget which sets out the next steps. Infected Blood Compensation Payments Updated legislation will confirm that payments made under the Blood Interim Compensation Payment Scheme are relieved from inheritance tax (IHT) in cases where the original infected or affected person eligible for compensation died before the compensation is paid. First living recipients of compensation payments will also have two years in which to gift some or all of the compensation payment without an IHT charge. This is being legislated for in Finance Bill 2025/26 and will apply to compensation payments made before or after 26 November 2025 and to gifts made on or after 4 December 2025. Charity compliance Finance Bill 2025/26 contains legislation which aims to strengthen the charity tax rules on tainted donations, approved investments, and non-charitable expenditure. These changes will take effect from 6 April 2026. Tax offer for high-talent new arrivals The Government will explore how to further develop its tax offer for high-talent new arrivals, to build on the success of the existing regime and bolster the ambition for the UK to remain a competitive destination for growth-driving global talent and support internationally mobile individuals to establish themselves and their businesses in the UK. The Government will seek views in due course to inform the design and scope of any potential enhanced offer. Climate change levy (CCL) The main rates of the CCL for gas, electricity and solid fuels will be uprated in line with RPI inflation from 1 April 2027. The main rate for liquefied petroleum gas will continue to be frozen. The reduced rates will remain at an unchanged fixed percentage of the main rates. Following a consultation at Spring Statement 2025, both electricity used in electrolysis to produce hydrogen and natural gas used as a source of CO2 in the production of sodium bicarbonate will be exempt from the CCL. Subject to parliamentary approval, these amendments will be in force by Spring 2026. Carbon price support Carbon price support rates in Great Britain have been frozen at a level equivalent to £18 per tonne of CO2 in 2027/28. Winter fuel payments The £35,000 threshold will be maintained for this Parliament. Visitor levy The Government will give Mayors in England powers to raise a visitor levy on overnight accommodation and explore the option for this power to be extended to the leaders of other strategic authorities. A consultation has therefore been launched on the design of the levy. Cryptoasset loans and liquidity pools A summary of responses to the ‘Taxation of decentralised finance (DeFi) involving the lending and staking of cryptoassets’ consultation has been published. Annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED) The ATED legislation will be updated to reflect the policy intent that relief from the ATED is available to companies holding property for qualifying commercial purposes. This includes relief claims within late ATED returns. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) The Government will amend SDLT rules so that property transferred within Local Government Pension Schemes are subject to a SDLT relief. This will be legislated in Finance Bill 2026/27. Capital allowances The 100 percent first year allowance (FYA) for qualifying expenditure on zero emission cars and on plant or machinery for electric vehicle charge points is extended a further year. The FYA will now be in place until 31 March 2027 for corporation tax purposes, and 5 April 2027 for income tax purposes.

Ahead of the 2024/25 normal online self-assessment (SA) filing deadline of 31 January 2026, we remind you that 30 December 2025 is the deadline to file 2024/25 SA returns online to ensure that a taxpayer can have their SA bill collected through their PAYE tax code when certain conditions are met. Any taxpayer who has received a simple assessment letter to pay tax outstanding for 2024/25 must do so dependent on the date the letter was received. If you get a 2024/25 simple assessment letter: before 31 October 2025, you must pay what you owe by 31 January 2026, or on or after 31 October 2025, you must pay what you owe within 3 months of the date of the letter.

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, HMRC has sent an email explaining the recent issues with child benefit payments being erroneously stopped for some claimants and emails are being sent to agents about company tax returns submitted before April 2025 that show future repayment dates for certain loans. A reminder has also been sent about paying employees earlier than usual in December. In other news this week: The minutes from the September 2025 Joint VAT Consultative Committee, which Chartered Accountants Ireland is represented on, are available, The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published a podcast ‘How to fix wealth taxes’, The House of Commons Library has published a further research briefing on the Autumn Budget 2025 and the Finance Bill 2025/26 and on 4 December 2025, members of the House of Lords debated the Budget, The latest schedule of HMRC Talking Points live and recorded webinars for tax agents are available for booking. Spaces are limited, so take a look now and save your place, and finally, Check HMRC’s online services availability page for details of planned downtime and the online services affected. Email from HMRC on child benefit payments HMRC has sent the following email about child benefit payment erroneously being suspended for some claimants. “We’re very sorry to those whose Child Benefit payments have been suspended incorrectly. Anyone affected should call the dedicated number on the letter we’ve sent them so we can confirm their eligibility and reinstate payments. We will no longer suspend any payments until we have checked with the recipient first, giving them a month to confirm if they are still eligible. This strikes the right balance between protecting taxpayers’ money and ensuring payments are only suspended when appropriate. Key background information        Having reviewed our processes, we will now be checking claims with customers first, by writing to them before suspending any payments, giving them one month to call us or write back. We are also streamlining the information we ask for from customers to prove their continuing eligibility, so they’re able to respond promptly. We have also re-introduced PAYE employment checks, meaning fewer people will be sent letters in the first place. We’re doing everything we can to ensure Child Benefit payments are only suspended when appropriate, and that any errors identified are rectified promptly, including resuming payments and making any backdated payments, so no-one is left out of pocket. Currently 23,489 letters have been issued. This means around 0.34% of child benefit claimants have had an enquiry opened and their payments suspended. We’re confident that the majority have been suspended correctly. Customers who have been sent one of these letters and who believe they are still eligible should call the number on the letter. We have now set up a dedicated team to handle their cases and a streamlined process for confirming their eligibility. These letters are not a scam. Child Benefit is paid to over 6.9 million families, supporting 11.9 million children. It is one of the most widely accessed forms of benefit in the UK. If a claimant is outside the UK for more than eight weeks, payments may stop unless there are exceptional circumstances.   Our specialist team is using international travel data, where this shows that customers have left the UK and may not have returned. Claimants must inform HMRC if they are outside the UK for 8 weeks or longer. A successful pilot saw thousands of people who had left the UK but carried on claiming removed from the system - with around £17m in wrongful payments prevented. A new specialist team is continuing this work and is expected to stop around £350 million in Child Benefit fraud and error over the next five years. It’s crucial that we undertake this work to protect taxpayers’ money.” HMRC emails to agents about company return with certain loans Last month HMRC began sending emails to around 1,300 Agents about corporation tax returns submitted before April 2025 which showed future repayment dates for directors’ and participator loans.  If the loans have not been repaid, then your client might not be due relief for the Section 455 tax which is due. The purpose of the email is to support agents to help clients get their returns right. These emails have already been added to the “genuine email” page on GOV.UK. Paying employees earlier in December Some employers need to pay their employees earlier than usual in December. This can be for several reasons, such as businesses closing during the festive period and needing to pay workers earlier than normal. This is to remind you of the permanent easement on reporting Real Time Information (RTI) that applies during this time. If you do pay early over the Christmas period, you must report your normal or contractual payment date on your Full Payment Submission (FPS). For example, if you pay on 19‌‌‌ ‌‌December 2025 but your normal payment date is 31 ‌‌‌December 2025, please report the payment date as 31‌‌‌ ‌‌December 2025. In this example the FPS would need to be sent on or before 31‌‌‌ ‌‌December 2025. Doing this helps to protect employees’ eligibility for income-based benefits such as Universal Credit, as an early payment could affect current and future entitlements. HMRC has published important updates and information for employers on GOV‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.UK, which includes: the October Employer Bulletin 2025 which reminds employers of the permanent easement on reporting RTI over the Christmas period, and help which can be found in CWG2 where a regular payment is made early at Christmas. The overriding PAYE reporting obligation for employers is unaffected by this exception and remains that you must report payments, on or before the date the employee is paid.  

In this week’s cross-border trading corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications. The most recent Trader Support Service bulletin is also available as is the latest Brexit and Beyond newsletter from the Northern Ireland Assembly EU Affairs team. HMRC has also asked us to share an email on the Trader Integration Micro Service (TIMS) in support of ICS2 for Great Britain to Northern Ireland movements from the end of this month. The Poultry Health Scheme (PHS) handbook has also been updated. ICS2 and the TIMS HMRC has sent a further reminder about the implementation of ICS2 from the end of December in addition to FAQs and a document on arrival and presentation of goods notifications. “Email from HMRC You can use Import Control System 2 (ICS2) now to submit entry summary (ENS) declarations if you’re ready to do so. If you need more time, you must work with your supply chain to make sure you’re ready to start using ICS2 as soon as possible. This must be no later than 31 December 2025 when ICS2 becomes mandatory for all movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Preparing to submit Arrival and Presentation notifications for GB-NI movements using the Trader Integration Micro Service (TIMS) We’re continuing to work towards the release of the free-to-use Trader Integration Micro Service (TIMS) and will confirm the release date soon. TIMS will facilitate the submission of ICS2 Arrival and Presentation of Goods notifications on your behalf for Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) movements from GB-NI only. If you already use the Trader Support Service (TSS) to auto-generate your Goods Movement Reference (GMR), you do not need to take any further action. If you don’t use the TSS to auto generate your GMR and wish to benefit from using TIMS, you should start to prepare now by ensuring you enter the ENS movement reference numbers (MRNs), when prompted, in the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS). No registration is required for TIMS and there is no cost to use it – once it is released, as long as your ENS MRNs are included in the relevant GMRs, TIMS will automatically submit your ICS2 Arrival and Presentation of Goods notifications for you for movements from GB-NI only. TIMS is not the only method for submitting your arrival and presentation notifications for your GB-NI movements. However, if you have included your ENS MRNs in your GMR, then TIMS will automatically submit these notifications. You won’t need to submit separate ICS2 Arrival and Presentation of Goods notifications for these MRNs.  Choosing not to include ENS MRNs in your GMRs? If you choose not to include ENS MRNs in your GMRs for GB-NI movements, you’ll need to purchase or develop your own software to submit Arrival and Presentation of Goods notifications, which are a mandatory part of the ICS2 requirements. Read the attached guidance to find out more about this. While we do not expect you to be submitting Arrival and Presentation of Goods notifications until TIMS has launched, if you’re planning to use another method we recommend preparing now. In the meantime, continue to use the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) or another customs process to fulfil Arrival and Presentation notifications requirements for your RoRo movements. Visit GOV.UK for more information on: ●using ICS2 Make an entry summary declaration using the Import Control System 2 – GOV.UK ●using TSS Sign up for the Trader Support Service - GOV.UK” Updated PHS handbook The Poultry Health Scheme (PHS) facilitates the export of poultry and hatching eggs by ensuring high standards of health and biosecurity. To ensure continued compliance with the scheme’s conditions, the PHS handbook has been updated. The full email from Government on this is as follows: “What’s New or Changed: A revised version of the PHS handbook has now been published. This update includes: New guidance for egg distribution centres Clarity on testing requirements for newly approved flocks and the 6-week wait period   Clarity on biosecurity, routine testing, record keeping and clinical examination A new summary of testing schedules The updated handbook is available on the Poultry Health Scheme page on GOV.UK. Actions Needed: All PHS members are advised to: Review the updated handbook in full Ensure your practices and documentation align with the revised guidance Contacts: For any questions or feedback, please contact the Customer Service Centre – One Health Team within Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA): Email: CSCOneHealthPHS@apha.gov.uk Telephone: 03000 200 301.”

The latest UK tax tidbits features special rules on foreign travel and how to make a complaint about HMRC. Special tax rules on foreign travel (490: Chapter 7), Make a complaint about HMRC, Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method, Register for Corporation Tax through a dependent agent permanent establishment, Register a non-resident company who disposed of UK property or land for Corporation Tax, Register an unincorporated association for Corporation Tax, Register an offshore property developer for Corporation Tax, Register a non-UK incorporated company for Corporation Tax if you're a UK resident, Find payroll software that is recognised by HMRC, Soft Drinks Industry Levy returns and records (notice 2), Submit your Soft Drinks Industry Levy return, Search the register of customs agents and express operators, Apply for Marriage Allowance by post, Signing up , Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, Check if an email you've received from HMRC is genuine, Check if a text message you've received from HMRC is genuine, Transfer of residence to the UK, Install Basic PAYE Tools onto a networked computer.

Revenue has updated its guidelines for determining employment status for taxation purposes to highlight the publication of the revised Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status in November 2024 by the Department of Social Protection, Revenue and the Workplace Relations Commission. Further minor updates have been made to reflect the publication of the EU Platform Work Directive.

The guidance on the residential premises rental income relief (RPRIR) guidance has been updated to  confirm that an individual who was tax compliant on 31 December 2024 can claim the RPRIR tax credit for that year provided they hold a tax clearance certificate when filing their income tax return. All other conditions of the relief must also be met.

Revenue has updated its guidance on the review of opinions or confirmations to provide information to taxpayers who wish to continue to rely on an opinion or confirmation issued by Revenue between 1 January and 31 December 2020 in respect of a transaction, period, or part of a period occurring on or after 1 January 2026. A taxpayer who wishes to continue to rely on such an opinion/confirmation is required to make an application for its renewal or extension on or before 31 March 2026. The guidance has also been updated to summarise the details relating to the review of opinions and confirmation issued between 2012 and 2019 into a table in section 2.3.  Details relating to applications for the renewal or extension of opinions or confirmations issued prior to 1 January 2012 are no longer included in the guidance.

We have compiled the latest updates to various VAT legislation, publications, briefs and guidance. Revenue and Customs Brief 4 (2025): VAT deduction on the management of pension funds How VAT affects charities (VAT Notice 701/1) How to claim a repayment of import duty and VAT if you've overpaid VAT Construction Direction under regulation 25(4AA) of the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2518), Cancelling your VAT registration (VAT Notice 700/11) Check if you can claim VAT relief on goods imported into Northern Ireland for onward supply to the EU How to claim VAT relief on goods imported for onward supply to an EU country Overview of VAT on Low-Value Imports Check when you can account for import VAT on your VAT Return How late payment penalties work if you pay VAT late Who should register for VAT (VAT Notice 700/1) Personal Export Scheme (VAT Notice 707) Buildings and construction (VAT Notice 708) Investment gold coins (VAT Notice 701/21A)