Revenue has updated Appendix 2 of the VIES Traders Manual Version 2 to include a link to the guide to preparing VIES returns on the Return Preparation Facility (RPF) which replaces the ROS Offline Application. Appendix 2 also includes a link to the VIES CSV template (Excel).

On Wednesday at 12:30pm Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her second Budget with much speculation that tax rises and Government department spending cuts will feature for the second time. But will the Chancellor break the Government’s manifesto pledge? In just two days’ time we will know all the details. After last year’s Budget the Chancellor had £9 billion "headroom" in case of tougher times, which certainly have come to pass since President Trump took up office in January. On Wednesday the Institute will be analysing and reacting to the Budget with full analysis to follow in next Monday’s Chartered Accountants Tax News. The Institute’s Pre-Budget submission is also available to read. Ahead of the Budget: HM Treasury published the transcript of what is referred to as a scene setter speech delivered by the Chancellor earlier this month, The House of Commons Library published an economic insight article about how slow economic growth could impact the Chancellor’s Budget decisions, The Federation of Small Businesses is urging the Government to ease cost pressures and back entrepreneurship at the Budget, The House of Commons Treasury Committee published details of an evidence session examining the issues facing the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, and The House of Lords recently debated the impact of government economic and taxation policies on jobs, growth, and prosperity, and As part of its inquiry into the draft Finance Bill Clauses, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee held further evidence sessions on 27 October, 3 November and 10 November after the Institute’s UK Tax Manager, Leontia Doran, delivered oral evidence on the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief to the Committee on 20 October. Ahead of the Scottish Budget which will take place on the later date of 13 January 2026, the Scottish Parliament has published the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s report on pre-budget 2026/27 scrutiny. Revenue Scotland has also published a summary of a round table event held with the Centre for Public Policy to discuss devolution of tax in Scotland. The round table, which is part of a series of events in a year-long celebration to mark Revenue Scotland’s tenth anniversary took place after the Scottish Tax Conference in September. In Wales, the draft 2026/27 Budget was published in October and the detailed draft Budget was published earlier this month, with the final Budget expected to be published on 20 January 2026.  

Revenue is inviting VAT-registered businesses managed by its Large Corporates Division to complete a VAT Modernisation and eInvoicing survey to inform Ireland’s implementation of the EU’s VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package, formally adopted on 11 March 2025. ViDA will require eInvoices and real-time reporting for cross-border B2B supplies across the EU. On 8 October 2025, following Minister Donohoe’s Budget Speech announcement, Revenue’s paper “Implementation of eInvoicing in Ireland” was published. The paper outlines a phased approach, with Phase 1 introducing mandatory eInvoicing and real-time reporting for domestic B2B transactions by VAT-registered large corporates. Receipt of the survey is not a notification that these businesses are mandated to issue eInvoices in Phase 1. The survey has issued directly to businesses through Revenue’s Online Service (ROS), with a timeline to submit responses by 5:00pm on Friday 12 December 2025. Queries can be sent to VATmodernisation@revenue.ie, and all relevant updates on VAT Modernisation will be published at revenue.ie/vatmod. Furter details of Revenue’s plans for the implementation of ViDA requirements were outlined in a previous news item.

Last month HMRC confirmed that its new research and development (R&D) expert advisory panel has been established with the appointment of six independent industry specialists. HMRC has also recently published a new tool that can be used to check if a company has undertaken qualifying R&D before a claim for R&D tax relief is made. The new advisory panel is known as the RDEAP and its aim is to provide sectoral insight and guidance to support the administration of R&D tax reliefs. It meets quarterly and will contribute to HMRC communications, guidance, and the strategic understanding of innovation across sectors. The Chair and Secretariat of the RDEAP are from HMRC’s Corporation Tax Innovation and Growth team. Other HMRC representatives, and representatives from other government departments may be invited to the RDEAP meetings by invitation. The RDEAP is advisory only so does not have decision-making authority, though it may make recommendations to existing governance and decision-making bodies as appropriate. The newly published R&D tool takes users though a number of the key tests which define qualifying R&D for tax purposes. Explanations and links to further guidance are provided. According to HMRC, a competent professional will be needed to help answer some of the questions. Once all of the questions have been answered, HMRC says that the tool will give the user a clear indication of whether or not the project is qualifying R&D.   It is recommended that results are saved and a record is kept of the information used to answer each question to assist with making claims. In the event of a compliance check HMRC says that it is “unlikely to disagree” that a project involves R&D for tax purposes if the answers given when using the tool were “based on your project’s facts and you can clearly support and explain them”. We have also been advised that HMRC does not store or use any of information provided when using the tool.  

Last week, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris TD, published a Feedback Statement for Phase One of reform of Ireland’s Taxation regime for Interest. The consultation period will run until 16 January 2026. It follows on from the Public Consultation on the Tax Treatment of Interest in Ireland which had been launched in September 2024 and an Action Plan for the reform of Ireland’s taxation regime for interest published by the Department of Finance on Budget Day. You can read the Institute’s response (under the auspices of the CCAB-I) to that earlier consultation here. The phase one feedback statement outlines a strawman proposal which sets out a possible approach for how the underlying framework for the taxation and deductibility of interest in Ireland may be reformed.  The key areas being examined in the consultation are as follows: Scope of phase one reforms Outline of new interest deductibility rule for corporation tax Transfer pricing Enhancements of the Interest Limitation Rule Transitional and simplification measures Taxation of interest income Taxation and deduction of interest equivalents The Institute will be responding to this consultation under the auspices of the Tax Committee South of CCAB-I. If you would like to submit views for our consideration, you can do so by emailing tax@charteredaccountants.ie.

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, HMRC are holding a series of webinars for employers and direct recovery of debts has been restarted in a test and learn phase. A new online service is now available to pay the High Income Child Benefit charge via PAYE and HMRC has published a statement setting out the standards that it expects of intermediaries and the steps it will take to tackle the minority of them who cause harm to the UK tax system. In other news this week: The UK has ranked 32nd overall (and 37th on property taxes) out of the 38 OECD member countries in the 2025 International Tax Competitiveness Index, HMRC has published Revenue and Customs Brief 6 (2025): VAT deduction on insurance intermediary services supplied outside the UK, which sets out HMRC’s policy following the First Tier Tribunal decision in Hastings Insurance Service LTD [2025] UKFTT 275 (TC), The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published How are frozen tax thresholds reshaping who pays personal taxes? and Changes to departmental spending at the upcoming Budget, HMRC advises that a successful fix for the Class 2 National Insurance Contributions issue was deployed at the end of September. This is confirmed in the latest Agent Update, HMRC is holding a webinar on 2 December on Transfer of Assets Abroad, HMRCs approach to The Motive Defence,  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 Check HMRC’s online services availability page for details of planned downtime and the online services affected. Upcoming webinars for employers Whether you’re reimbursing employees using their own vehicles at approved mileage rates, providing company cars for business travel, or paying statutory maternity or paternity pay, HMRC’s live webinars have you covered. Questions can be asked during the live webinar by using the text box. The following live webinars are available to book: Company cars, vans and fuel, Statutory sick pay, Statutory maternity and paternity pay, and Travel. HMRC restarts direct recovery of debts If an individual or business has a tax debt which remains unpaid despite having the means to pay it, HMRC can recover the funds it is owed directly from the taxpayer’s bank or building society account. These powers, known as direct recovery of debt (DRD), first started in 2015 and were used sparingly before all DRD activity was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. HMRC has published an updated briefing on DRD. After the announcement made in the 2025 Spring Statement 2025, HMRC recently confirmed that it has restarted DRD in a “test and learn phase”. According to HMRC, DRD was a strong deterrent and the decision to restart activity has been made against its backdrop of efforts to reduce tax debt. Pay the High Income Child Benefit charge (HICBC) online via PAYE HMRC recently launched its new online service for paying the HICBC through PAYE. This was previously announced at the Spring Statement 2025. In order to use the new service, taxpayers first need to de-register from income tax self-assessment which HMRC won’t do automatically. Once this is done, the taxpayer should be able to use the online HICBC PAYE service the next day. HMRC’s approach to intermediary harm HMRC has published a statement outlining the standards it expects of intermediaries (which includes accountants and financial advisers) and the steps it will take to address the minority of intermediaries who cause harm to the tax system. Intermediary is defined as an individual or business that sits between taxpayer and HMRC. The statement says that while most intermediaries provide valuable services, a minority can behave in ways that are harmful, such as misleading the public or using HMRC's rules improperly. In cases of harm, HMRC may take action such as blocking access to its services or criminal action where fraud is involved. Advice for taxpayers on how to choose an intermediary also features.

The second evaluation of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC) has been published by the European Commission and  concludes that the DAC provides a well-functioning legal framework which supports Member States in their fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance. The report also recognises the need to consolidate and simplify the DAC, with increased consistency of application across all Member States to ensure fair taxation in the EU. 

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 which takes an in-depth look at the House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee’s evidence session on veterinary medicines and the Windsor Framework. The minutes and slides from the 30 September 2025 meeting of HMRC’s Northern Ireland Joint Customs Consultation Committee which the Institute is represented on are available and HMRC has shared a recording of a recent webinar on ICS2 in addition to the FAQs used in the webinar. Miscellaneous guidance updates and publications This week’s miscellaneous guidance updates and publications are as follows: Data Element 2/3: Documents and Other Reference Codes (Union) of the Customs Declaration Service, CDS Declaration Completion Instructions for Imports, Report a problem using the Customs Declaration Service, Reference Documents for The Customs Tariff (Preferential Trade Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, and Get customs data for import and export declarations.

The OECD has published a report on the taxation of cross-border investment activity. The report considers ways to support simplification, foster tax certainty and reduce compliance costs in the cross-border business tax system for both taxpayers and tax administrations.

The latest UK tax tidbits features updated guidance on registering for corporation tax 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, 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, Apply to register a pension scheme, Inheritance Tax account (IHT400), Completing your Company Tax Return, Multinational Top-up Tax and Domestic Top-up Tax, Make a qualifying asset holding company notification to HMRC, Request transfer of a VAT registration number, Check the list of businesses and sites registered for Aggregates LevyTop of Form, Employee circumstances that affect payment of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, Tell an employee that they're not eligible for Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (NEO1), Elect a qualifying company for tax exemption on UK capital gains, Tell HMRC about who is dealing with the estate when someone dies, When National Insurance and PAYE is due on tips, gratuities and service charges (E24), Find payroll software that is recognised by HMRC, Double Taxation Treaty Passport Scheme register, Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method, How to complete an Other Interest return, and Other Interest returns.

The OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital has been updated for 2025 to reflect developments in international taxation. The report offers enhanced guidance for the interpretation and application of tax treaties.

What made you choose Chartered Accountancy and if you weren’t a Chartered Accountant what other career path would you have followed? I would like to say that my choice for Chartered Accountancy was the outcome of a long and considered process, however it wasn’t. I was in King’s Inns studying to become a barrister and the reality dawned on me towards the end of the academic year that I was not going to be able to financially support myself in the barrister apprenticeship process in Dublin. In short, I needed a job. I was lining up a job as a security guard when my cousin, an auditor in KPMG at the time said to me that their tax department were doing a late hiring of for their tax graduate programme. I figured “tax is law” and I would get paid to study and get additional qualifications, so it all sounded like a good deal. I submitted an application in July  in 2011, was interviewed in August, was offered the job an hour after the interview and started in KPMG two weeks after that. Can you tell us about your career path and how you got to where you are now? I did my training contract in KPMG’s Financial Services Tax Department. I didn’t know a debit from a credit when I started but got all my exams. After I came to the end of my training contract, I decided to see if I could dip back into legal waters and joined Eversheds as a Tax Associate. I spent a year and a half there but I was on a tax team of two (that’s counting myself), and missed having the resources of large tax department. So I rejoined KPMG Tax in September 2015 as a manager and moved up the ranks to Tax Director.  I always had my ups and downs mental-healthwise but when I got to the workplace, I really started to struggle. I got some help at various times in my career and when the firm arranged for me to get some executive coaching when I was going through bad patch, I just fell in love with coaching. At the same time as all of the above was happening, I was getting some help via the firm’s EAP with some counselling and it was a counsellor who flagged that I may wish to investigate further whether some of the issues I was facing could stem from me being autistic. I was taken aback but did look into further and found it explained a lot of the issues I had faced throughout my life – I was assessed and diagnosed in 2021. What came out of coaching process was a clear understanding of my values and what fulfilled me. Helping others was high on the list, as was learning. So I ended up studying coaching part-time in the evenings and weekends with Kingstown College and once I qualified, KPMG appointed me to their internal coaching panel to coach junior staff as a side of desk role. I was also learning all I could about autism, which then broadened into learning about neurodiversity and inclusive practices and I thought it was amazing, but there was very little being said about as far as I could see in Irish workplaces at that time. I was tossing around the idea in my head of setting up my own coaching business and maybe I could also help make Irish workplaces more inclusive for neurodivergent people as part of it. But I thought it was too fanciful and “out there”, I’ll just stick to being a tax consultant and maybe just help people in a smaller way within the firm. Then my mother passed away in January 2023. For anyone who has lost a parent or close family member, there is often a perspective shift that comes with it. I figured “Life is too short”. I took my time to ensure it was the right decision and not being made on a whim. I left KPMG in October 2023 and launched Braver in February 2024 as an executive coaching and neurodiversity consultancy. We have been really fortunate to have got off to a great start and I have to thank the likes of Chartered Accountants Ireland, KPMG and others outside of professional services like Codex for being for such great partners to work with. How has being a Chartered Accountant helped you in your new career, given it is so different to what you have done before? Setting up your own business, knowing everything that I do thanks to all the experience I have gained and contacts I had made, was much smoother than for others. I did the Local Enterprise Office Start Your Own Business course and for others the prospect of accounts, CRO filings for establishing a company and tax filings was the most daunting. I didn’t bat an eyelid at those aspects, I was more worried about how to go about networking and social media (I gave up on all of it except LinkedIn, no TikToks from me). It also offers a level of financial security that I am grateful for – despite making a big jump into a new career, I am risk averse. I am lucky enough to be doing tax consulting work on a part-time basis with a small tax consultancy from April 2025. It gives me financial security, the scope to take bigger swings with Braver and not compromise on our services and, speaking frankly, it is doing wonders for our mortgage application. What Institute services have you availed of and to what extent have you been involved with the Institute? Chartered Accountants Ireland were Braver’s first client and I am hugely grateful to the team in there for taking a chance on a new business and one of their own. I provided neurodiversity training to CAI staff back in August 2024 and I think that was a real launchpad from which Braver’s success has grown. I have been very involved in institute events and publications over the last 18 months and I think that’s just a sign of the high importance being placed on inclusion on their Institute’s agenda. I know that is being replicated at a global level as I was invited to deliver a session to the neurodiversity leads of the each of the Member Institutes of Chartered Accountants Worldwide. As for Institute services, I availed of more services funnily after I set up my coaching business as I kept my membership live and CPD up to date (just in case). When I have client meetings in town spread over the day, I will often stop into CA House as my hub to work from for a few hours during the day, I don’t think enough members realise the facilities are there and available for their use – it’s not just for students. I also use meeting rooms in CA House from time to time (members can use the meeting room). It was actually through Dave O’Riordan in the Careers Team that I got placed for my part-time tax consulting job back in April 2025 and Dave was a big help as part of the process. I would recommend reaching out to him if you are an employer looking to find somebody or trying to a find a role that fits for you. There are also so many events taking place in CA House throughout the year and it’s through those events that I made some of my best learnings and contacts. Whether that was a Learning to Network evening session I attended (crucial for any small business owner) or attending last year’s DCU Access to the Workplace launch event, which started a conversation between me and Codex Office Solutions, which turned into my biggest partnership of 2025. What career advice would you give to other members based on your own experience? Know what your values are – find out what drives you in your work. If you know what your values are, it is much easier to identify and prioritise your long-term goals and why you like or dislike some aspects of a job. That will allow to figure out whether you and your job / organisation are in alignment. Many issues in the workplace come from a misalignment of expectations and people making too many assumptions of each other. Whether it’s with your manager or report, please just communicate with them, clarify what their expectations are for you and yours for them and ask them for feedback. Find a mentor. I’ve had a few over the course of my career in KPMG and it just makes a world of difference to have somebody in your corner. Even when I was setting up Braver, a very experienced coach and dear friend who was in the process of retiring actually volunteered to mentor me and we met regularly over the first year, we discussed everything from coaching ethics to business strategy to pricing to route to market. That helped massively. I asked him why he was doing this and he said “When I was starting out, I didn’t have a clue. But a senior coach threw the ladder down for me so now it’s my turn to throw the ladder down for you.” If you are in the early to middle stages of your career, find a mentor. And if you are somebody who in middle to later stages, particularly if you benefitted from mentorship in the past, pay it forward, throw the ladder down for a colleague. What achievement are you proudest of in your life to date? Quitting smoking and drinking. I’m healthier and happier now than I’ve ever been.