“THAT the profession of Public Accountants in Ireland is an important one, and their functions are of great and increasing importance” Royal Charter, 1888 On Thursday, 19 March we’ll celebrate the launch of Important Work: A History of Irish Chartered & Certified Public Accountants by Brenda Clerkin, Bríd Murphy, and Martin Quinn. Tracing the development of the profession from the late nineteenth century to today, the book explores its enduring impact on economic life, public trust, and social progress across the island of Ireland, and its publication marks the centenary of CPA Ireland. Read the Foreword to the book by Institute President Pamela McCreedy, in which she commends how the authors capture how professional accountants are integral to the economies, institutions and societies on the island of Ireland. FOREWORD As president of Chartered Accountants Ireland, it is my honour to write the foreword to this new history of the Irish accountancy profession, published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the formation of CPA Ireland.  The book’s main title, Important Work, reflects the words and intentions of the petitioners for the Royal Charter of 1888, by which the Institute and the Irish accountancy profession was established, that “the profession of Public Accountants in Ireland is an important one, and their functions are of great and increasing importance”.  Important Work also resonates with the truth that runs through every chapter of this book: professional accountants have been and continue to be integral to the economies, institutions and societies on the island of Ireland. In a century and a half of change – political, economic, technological and regulatory – accountants have consistently shaped the conditions under which trust, transparency and public confidence can flourish. This book demonstrates not only what accountants have done, but why their contribution has always been, and continues to be, important work.  Beginning before the establishment of formal professional bodies, the book traces the evolution of accounting from its earliest manifestations in civic administration and industrial enterprise to the sophisticated, technology-enabled profession of today. Through periods of upheaval – war and revolution, partition, economic crises, globalisation, and most recently a worldwide pandemic – the Irish profession has consistently demonstrated resilience, adaptability and an unwavering commitment to the public interest. The stories of those who served during conflict, who guided businesses through volatility, or who modernised practice in the face of technological change are powerful reminders of the profession’s societal role. The authors also tell the extraordinary story of transformation of accountants’ work – from manual ledger keeping and early audit practice to the era of data analytics, artificial intelligence and non-financial reporting. Their account is enriched by vivid examples from professional practice, industry and public service, illustrating how the profession has continually adapted to changing needs, upholding its responsibilities as trusted advisors and business leaders. Accountants steered organisations through the trade disruptions of the 1930s, embraced new theories, practices and strategies in the economic modernisation of the 1960s and 1970s, managed seismic transitions such as decimalisation, EU membership, the financial crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. And the profession’s agility is particularly evident in its response to technological change. The 2024 amalgamation of Chartered Accountants Ireland and CPA Ireland is one of the most significant milestones in the profession’s history on the island and is discussed here for the first time in its historical context. It represents not an end but a new beginning: the creation of a unified, future-focused profession equipped to meet the challenges of a volatile global environment with a shared purpose and continued commitment to the public interest. To know where we are going, we must first understand where we came from, and this is one of the most valuable contributions of this history: it informs our thinking about the future of the profession. In the fifth and final chapter, we are grateful to the authors for helping us on our way. Their account of the future is informed by a powerful idea: the work of accountants has never been more vital, and its importance will only grow. In a world defined by volatility, complexity and profound technological disruption, accountants stand as trusted business leaders – professionals whose judgement, integrity and adaptability will determine the resilience of organisations and economies. Accountants are uniquely trained, skilled and experienced to help organisations make sense of uncertainty, allocate resources wisely and uphold trust at a time when trust is scarce. Important work, indeed. Pamela McCreedy, FCA FCPA President, Chartered Accountants Ireland Important Work: A History of Irish Chartered & Certified Public Accountants by Brenda Clerkin, Bríd Murphy, and Martin Quinn will be launched on Thursday, 19 March at 6pm at Chartered Accountants House, Dubin 2. Register to attend at https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/Meetings/Meeting.aspx?ID=56879

Chartered Accountants Ireland has reacted to today’s Spring Forecast by urging the UK Government to address the tax barriers that are hampering business growth. The Institute is highlighting the urgent need for UK business tax policy to be revamped so that economic growth is stimulated, the tax system is simplified, and the burden of tax on entrepreneurial investments is reduced.  These recommendations formed the basis of the Institute’s response to HM Treasury’s Call for Evidence on Tax Supports for Entrepreneurs which closed last week. Chartered Accountants Ireland is the largest professional body on the island of Ireland and represents over 5,500 members in Northern Ireland.  UK Tax Manager with Chartered Accountants Ireland, Leontia Doran said   “As expected, today’s Spring Forecast contained no tax policy changes, however the Government cannot stand still in harnessing the talents and skills of the entrepreneurs and small businesses that are the heartbeat of the UK economy.  “In recent years, entrepreneurs have seen the value of their business eroded with higher taxes and employment costs. This leaves less money available to invest back into those businesses for their growth mission. For those selling their business, higher exit taxes means that there is less in their pocket for them to reinvest in other businesses. This will be further compounded by tax rises due to take effect from next month, including the reduced benefit of key Inheritance Tax reliefs.  “The Government recently consulted on how it can better support those investing in high growth companies. We urge the Government to launch a wider review of how the UK tax system can truly deliver a strategic long-term plan for entrepreneurial growth and investment.”    Northern Ireland businesses excluded from improved finance options from April 2026  In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the UK Government announced a series of increases to take effect from April 2026 to several of the UK’s venture capital schemes that provide smaller companies with access to finance and which provide a range of beneficial tax reliefs to the equity investor making these riskier investments.  However, the draft legislation for these changes means that certain Northern Ireland companies will not be able to take advantage of the increased thresholds for these finance schemes.  Doran noted  “We are concerned that the regional impact of UK tax policy has been ignored when it comes to Northern Ireland. For EU State Aid reasons, the Finance Bill specifically excludes Northern Ireland companies who trade in goods or electricity from benefiting from the increased limits which will be available when seeking external finance.  “This divergence in UK tax policy places these companies at a competitive disadvantage compared to similar businesses across the rest of the UK for no reason other than their location. This further hampers their growth and ultimately that of the wider economy.  “The Government needs to begin discussions on this issue as soon as possible via the existing UK-EU structures that underpin the Windsor Framework. This will likely require an application for State Aid approval.”   Northern Ireland Corporation Tax rate reduction  Specific policy measures are still needed to unlock Northern Ireland’s economic potential and its dual market access. As part of this, in 2026 the Institute has continued its campaign for a reduced rate of corporation tax more closely aligned with that across the rest of the island.   Cróna Clohisey, Director of Members and Advocacy, Chartered Accountants Ireland said  "The Chancellor spoke today about economic growth for all parts of the UK. Reducing the corporation tax rate for NI would grow the NI economy and ultimately increase the overall tax take from businesses and employees by attracting higher value FDI, which would support the creation of better jobs and opportunities for all businesses and citizens. Ireland’s successful industrial strategy was not the result of a single policy decision and certainly did not start with a big leap. That vision persisted and grew over the long term. We believe that Northern Ireland now needs that same clarity of purpose — and we call on the UK Government to share and support that vision.   “In the longer term, the gains for Northern Ireland would set a real benchmark for what can be achieved with ambitious tax policies. This is something that we know our members want and which we continue to advocate for in 2026.”   

HM Treasury is collecting data from UK AML supervised firms to prepare for the UK’s upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation and the update of the Proliferation Financing National Risk Assessment (PF NRA). We encourage firms to take part. The survey closes on 31 March 2026. This survey is collecting input from firms to support two initiatives: 1. FATF Mutual Evaluation of the United Kingdom The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global standard-setter for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. FATF conducts periodic Mutual Evaluations (MEs) of member countries to assess both technical compliance with FATF Recommendations and the effectiveness of measures in practice. The United Kingdom’s next FATF Mutual Evaluation will commence in late 2026. This assessment will evaluate the UK’s compliance with the FATF’s 40 recommendations and the UK’s effectiveness in achieving the required Immediate Outcomes (IOs). HM Treasury is coordinating the UK’s preparation for this evaluation. Two of the outcomes—IO10 and IO11—specifically measure the UK’s ability to implement UN-mandated targeted financial sanctions, related to terrorist financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF) respectively. The first part of this survey will ask IO10 and IO11 related questions and help inform the UK’s submissions to the FATF. 2. Update of the UK Proliferation Financing National Risk Assessment (PF NRA) HM Treasury is currently updating the UK’s PF NRA to identify PF risks and typologies across sectors and strengthen the UK’s response. Your input to the second part of this survey will help ensure the PF NRA reflects real-world risks and challenges faced by firms. Confidentiality and Use of Responses All responses will be treated in confidence and used solely for the two initiatives: · FATF Mutual Evaluation: Responses will form part of the evidence base for the UK’s submission to FATF assessors, demonstrating the effectiveness of UK firms’ implementation of UN-mandated targeted financial sanctions for TF and PF. · PF National Risk Assessment: Responses to the PF NRA section will inform HM Treasury’s analysis and conclusions in its forthcoming Proliferation Financing National Risk Assessment publication. In both outputs, all information provided through this survey will be aggregated and anonymised, and will not be attributable to any specific firm An outline of the survey is provided to  help you prepare your responses before submission. Closing date is 31 March 2026. To take part please click here.  

Tues 10 March 12.30pm - 1.30pm Free We are delighted to announce our second Expert Series session of the year. Join us and Eugene Nel, Partner, Capital Markets & Accounting Advisory Services, PwC, on Tuesday 10 March.

Revenue has notified the Institute of several ROS updates to be implemented in March and April to the ROS Form 11 2025 and the Employer PAYE/PRSI/USC (PREM) registration which we have outlined as follows: ROS Form 11 2025 The issue which is preventing the Age Tax Credit from appearing on the Notice of Assessment (NOA) is to be resolved this evening, Monday 2 March, along with other minor form enhancements. Widowed Person/Surviving Civil Partner credit (with dependent child(ren)): Currently, there is an issue where the credit is calculating at €1,875 instead of the correct €2,000. A fix is scheduled for 20 April 2026 and Revenue will update and correct any impacted returns submitted prior to that date. A temporary workaround is available for hardship cases which require a resolution before the fix date in April. Other 2025 Form 11 final enhancements on 20 April will include: Sports Body Donations Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) Medical partnership declaration (section 1008A TCA 1997) Field to capture the value of exempt profits under section 216F TCA 1997 (certain musical instruments) CGT panel – additional text and a validation change. PREM registration PREM registration backdating changes will take effect this evening, Monday 2 March and it is expected that most taxpayers will not be impacted. In future, a taxpayer will only be able to backdate a PREM registration by one period via ROS. Revenue has informed us that if backdating is needed for more than one period, the taxpayer will be required to: proceed to register on ROS, i.e. the 1st of the current period, follow up via MyEnquiries outlining, the date they wish to backdate the registration to, the reason they require backdating of the registration, including the first employees’ commencement date, advise if making a voluntary disclosure has been considered in dealing with the retrospective element of the registration.

Revenue has published a further warning of fraudulent emails, SMS (text messages) and phone calls seeking personal information from taxpayers. Revenue has updated its website to highlight recent fraudulent emails claiming that taxpayers are ‘due an audit’ and directing them to click a link to schedule the audit by a specified date. Taxpayers who have provided Revenue account details in response to an email, SMS or phone call are advised to reset their password immediately. Taxpayers are advised to contact their bank or credit card provider if they have provided bank or card details.

Revenue has updated its guidance on the Fisher Tax Credit providing details on how to claim the credit during the relevant tax year through MyAccount or by completing an income tax return after the end of the year. A link to the guidance on provisions relating to residency of individuals has also been included.

Revenue has published new guidance outlining the rules for determining when an interest in a life assurance policy is deemed to become an interest in possession for the purposes of Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT).  The relevant rules as set out in section 41 CATCA 2003 together with details of the changes introduced by Finance Act 2025 are included in the new guidance. Finance Act 2025 introduced a new subsection 1(A) to section 41 CATCA 2003 to provide that, where a person, having received a gift or inheritance of an assurance policy, disposes of their interest in the policy before it matures or is surrendered for consideration, a charge to CAT will arise at the time of the disposal. The new subsection applies from 1 January 2026.

Revenue has updated the stamp duty manual providing guidance on the application of Consanguinity Relief. This relief provides for a one percent reduced rate of stamp duty on the conveyance and transfer of land between certain related parties. The updated guidance outlines that to qualify for the relief, the entire beneficial interest in the land must be transferred between related parties.

Revenue has issued a reminder that the deadline for filing the annual share related returns for 2025 is 31 March 2026 and has also updated its website to provide relevant tips and recommendations.  New versions of the relevant share scheme returns are now available and employers and trustees are advised to ensure the new version of the forms are used when completing and uploading details in respect of the return year 2025. The updated forms ESA, RSS1, ESS1 and KEEP1 have been annualized to allow for the new reporting year, 2025 and all cells that relate to “market value” data have been modified to allow entry and display of up to five decimal points. The following changes have been made to Forms SRSO1 and ESOT1: References to 2024 have been replaced with 2025. Reference to 31 March 2025 has been replaced with 31 March 2026. The .pdf files now contain free-text editable text fields. Some formatting and layout changes have been made to reflect latest accessibility guidance. Some linguistic changes were made to the Irish version of both returns to ensure they align with current Revenue Irish style guidance. In respect of the Form SRSO1 - a formatting error has been resolved on page 4 of the return. The text ‘4. Continued’ has been removed and the text ‘Replacement Options Exercised’ has been reformatted as a subheading rather than a main heading. This change applies to both the English and the Irish version of this return. In the reminder, Revenue outlined that failure to make a return by the due date may attract penalties.

Last week the Institute responded to the HM Treasury ‘Call for Evidence: Tax Supports for Entrepreneurs’, which was launched on Autumn Budget Day last November. We thank members for their feedback on this important issue. In our submission, the Institute highlights how the draft Finance (No. 2) Bill clauses which implement the Autumn Budget 2025 changes to the various scheme limits for several of the UK’s tax advantaged venture capital schemes exclude specified Northern Ireland (NI) companies due to EU State Aid rules. The submission also highlights that there is a need for a wider review of how the UK tax system could better support all entrepreneurs, and not just those investing in high growth companies. A specified NI company is currently defined in the Finance (No. 2) Bill as a company that has its registered office in NI which carries on a trade involving a trade in goods, or the generation, transmission, distribution, supply, wholesale trade, or cross-border exchange of electricity. As a result, these NI companies will be unable to benefit from the increased limits to these schemes from April 2026. This divergence in UK tax policy means that companies in NI who are excluded are disadvantaged when seeking external finance compared to their competitors across the remainder of the UK for no objective reason other than their location. To level the playing field, the Government needs to take the necessary steps to resolve this issue and enable the April 2026 changes to apply to all companies in NI via the discussions through the existing UK-EU structures which underpin the Windsor Framework, followed by an application for State Aid approval.

Last Wednesday, a delegation from the Institute attended a meeting with senior officials from  the Department of Finance to discuss our response to the Phase One Interest Review Feedback Statement. The meeting is part of the Department’s ongoing stakeholder outreach that is growing on the back of the formation of its Business Tax Stakeholder Forum back in 2024. The meeting involved a general discussion on the feedback received placing our own comments within that wider context. The discussion that followed was constructive and it was clear that our feedback and the feedback of the other respondents has been carefully considered. Broadly, the feedback we provided focused on our reservations with the earlier Feedback Statement, particularly the proposed application of a ‘profit motive’ test for Case I/II scenarios.  We also drew out our concerns about the potential impact on the principles established in Ringmahon. The Department advised it was not their intention to change the scope of the analysis applied in Ringmahon. Rather, the Department is considering how it can broaden the analysis for deductibility accepted in Case I scenarios in a way that is appropriate for Case III/V scenarios. It is considering alternative approaches now and we will be making further recommendations on this point. In terms of our detailed feedback to government through these public consultations, it is greatly welcomed that we are having more frequent opportunities to meet directly with officials to discuss our recommendations, or reservations as the case may be. As mentioned, we will be providing a follow-up note to the Department later this week highlighting our key recommendations as the next phase of work progresses on this key legislative project. At this point, it seems that the Department has taken stakeholders’ views on board and will consider an approach that preserves what already functions well within the current system.  It is also open to accepting proposals on what could be addressed in this year’s Finance Act and what proposals should be given further consideration for inclusion in later Finance Acts to avoid any unintended consequences. If you are reading this and have views you would like to share in relation to your own response to the Phase One proposals, please reach send your thoughts to tax@charteredaccountants.ie.