Revenue has published a new stamp duty manual providing guidance on the application of Consanguinity Relief which allows for a one percent reduced rate of stamp duty on the conveyance and transfer of land between certain related parties. The guidance outlines the relevant eligibility criteria and the interaction between the relief and the Young Trained Farmers relief. The guidance in Schedule 1 - Stamp Duties on Instruments has been updated to remove the material on consanguinity relief as the details are now included in the new guidance.

In this week’s post EU exit corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications relevant in the post EU exit environment. The most recent Trader Support Service bulletin is also available as is the most recently published Brexit and Beyond newsletter from the Northern Ireland Assembly EU Affairs team. The House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee has paid a visit to NI to examine how effectively its voice is represented on the Windsor Framework as part of its ongoing inquiry and the UK and the US governments have agreed to further reduce tariffs on cross-border trade.  Miscellaneous guidance updates and publications This week’s miscellaneous guidance updates and publications are as follows: Appendix 23 Imports: Declaration Category Data Sets, Appendix 21: Import Declaration Category Data Sets, Apply to claim a repayment or remission of import duty on ‘at risk’ goods brought into Northern Ireland, Appendix 25 BIRDS: Declaration Category Data Sets, Appendix 24: Declaration Category Data Set, Appendix 22: Declaration Category Data Sets Landing Page and Introductory Text, Apply for a voluntary clearance amendment (underpayment) (C2001), Report a problem using the Customs Declaration Service, Moving licensed goods into or out of Northern Ireland, Discover customs authorisations that help you import and export goods, Notices made under The Customs (Import Duty) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018, Check how to move goods through ports that use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, Create a goods movement reference, and External temporary storage facilities codes for Data Element 5/23 of the Customs Declaration Service.  

The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe presented the Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025 to Dail Eireann last week. The bill provides changes to the charging structure for Local Property Taxes (LPT) and expands all the charging bands by twenty percent. LPT charges will increase by five to six percent for homes values under €1.26 million and homes valued between €1.26 million and €2.1 million will see an increase in base charges of seven to fourteen percent. The principal changes introduced by the Bill were outlined in our previous two Tax Newsletter items on 7 April 2025 and the main changes proposed at this second stage are as follows: The Bill as previously published allowed local authorities to vary LPT charges upward by 25 percent from 2026 onwards. The amendment now proposed means a deferral of the introduction of this increase by one year meaning it will take effect from 2027. Partial relief on LPT applies to a property which has been adapted for use by a person with a disability. The practice to date on an administrative basis, has meant a reduction of €87,500 in the chargeable value of the relevant adapted property. The amended Bill is proposing a widening of the valuation bands meaning a reduction of €105,000 of the chargeable value of adapted properties where certain conditions are met. This will ensure the administrative practice that has been place since 2021 will be put on a legislative footing.  In the Minister’s opening statement, he noted that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has indicated that property prices have increased by more than 20 percent nationally since November 2021. The Minister also highlighted that if property revaluation were to proceed in November 2025 without any changes to the bands or rates, around 70 percent of properties would move up by at least one band.  

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, HMRC will be publishing a new guidance manual to cover the implementation of the OECD’s Pillar Two rules in the UK and the first deadline for in scope groups to register to report for Pillar Two is next Monday 30 June 2025. HMRC has also provided us with an update on the ongoing Class 2 national insurance contributions (NICs) issue which has resulted in incorrect tax calculations being issued to some taxpayers for 2024/25. In other news this week: HMRC has published the latest Agent Update: Issue 132, The Government has published an updated policy paper ‘Tax Policy Making Principles’, which sets out its approach to delivering tax policy changes through the single major fiscal event cycle, and how it will engage with stakeholders during tax policy development. This is the first update on this from the new Government since it came to power last year. Note that we are not aware of any stakeholders being consulted on this, The Public Accounts Committee has held an evidence session with HMRC about the steps they are taking to ensure wealthy individuals pay their taxes as part of its ongoing inquiry in this area, The latest version of the Tax agents handbook has been published, and The minutes of the most recent meeting of the HMRC Guidance Strategy Forum are available on GOV.UK. Pillar Two manual to be published HMRC will be publishing a new guidance manual to cover the implementation of the UK’s Pillar Two rules. Over the last two years, draft content for this manual has been published in tranches for consultation. Four separate tranches have been published as follows: 15 June 2023,  21 December 2023, 12 September 2024, and  28 January 2025. Earlier this month, HMRC advised that consultation responses have been reviewed and will be reflected in the HMRC guidance manual where appropriate. In the introduction to the consultation on the fourth tranche of draft guidance, HMRC states “the guidance manual will be published in full in late spring” so we should expect to see this soon.   The deadline to register to report for Pillar Two is also approaching. Groups in the scope of the Pillar Two rules in the UK must register within six months of the end of the first accounting period which started on or after 31 December 2023. This means impacted groups with an accounting period ended 31 December 2024 must register by 30 June 2025. Registration and reporting must be done using HMRC’s online service for this. 2024/25 Class 2 NICs issue From 2024/25, self-employed people with profits below the 2024/25 limit of £6,725 can opt to pay Class 2 NICs voluntarily for certain contributory state benefit purposes. Those with profits above this limit no longer have to pay Class 2 NICs to access the affected benefits. HMRC has been investigating why some taxpayers, including some paying voluntarily, have received a self-assessment tax calculation (SA302) from HMRC that includes a liability for Class 2 NICs. HMRC has advised us that the nature of the error depends on individual circumstances, but in general, some taxpayers have seen a Class 2 NICs liability added to their account when it should not have been. This issue mainly affects taxpayers with self-employed profits above £12,570. In some cases, HMRC has been able to correct this and the taxpayer will have been notified. In most cases, the impact is an incorrect Class 2 NICs charge of £358.80, but in some circumstances, the amount is less.   HMRC will notify the taxpayer when they correct their record and has confirmed that anyone who has made a payment will either be refunded or, have a credit added to their Self-Assessment statement. The root cause of the issue has been identified, and a fix is expected to be implemented by the end of July. Once the fix is in place, HMRC will correct the affected tax calculations. This will happen before any incorrect amounts due impact the tax owed for 2024/25.

The Department of Finance has published minutes of the Business Tax Stakeholder Forum meeting held on 28 March 2025 which was attended by representatives from the Institute, under the auspices of CCAB-I. The forum provides a platform for key business tax stakeholders to engage with the Department of Finance on issues concerning business taxation and related policy matters. To date in 2025, the Institute has made several submissions under the framework, including recommendations to enhance the new Participation Exemption for Certain Foreign Distributions and the introduction of a DWT exemption for Investment Limited Partnerships. CCAB-I’s letter on the Participation Exemption for Certain Foreign Distributions highlighted the challenges posed by certain conditions of the exemption which are limiting the intended benefits of the relief. CCAB-I called for a broadening the geographical scope of the exemption and amendment of the five year ‘look back’ rule. The Institute also outlined the case for the introduction of a DWT exemption for ILP’s and the importance of this exemption in enhancing the attractiveness of the Irish ILP regime. There will be further discussions of our proposals at a bespoke meeting on the matter later this week. The Institute also provided feedback on a recent questionnaire issued by the Department of Finance on the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) and Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED).

We remind you that from Monday 30 June 2025, HMRC will close its online forums for both agents and taxpayers. Following discussions with stakeholders, including this Institute, and a review of both the agent and taxpayer online forums, HMRC has taken the decision to close both with effect from this date. More information is available in a previous news story.

Do you complete expenses and benefits returns? Or do you complete online filing for employment related securities? If so, you have a key role to play in ensuring online returns are submitted by the 2024/25 filing deadline of 6 July 2025 and payments are made on time. The 2024/25 online filing deadline to apply for a PAYE settlement agreement is 5 July 2025, with payments due by 22 October 2025 (19 October 2025 if not paying electronically). The latest Employer Bulletin: June 2025 includes articles on a range of areas of interest to employers, payroll professionals and agents, including some of the upcoming deadlines. Included in this edition are important updates on: • PAYE settlement agreement (PSA) calculations for 2024/25, • organised labour fraud: the supply of labour through employment intermediaries, • mandating the reporting of benefits in kind and expenses through payroll software from April 2027, • Spotlight 68: using prepaid debit cards for profit extraction, to reduce profits and disguise income, • future changes to Statutory Sick Pay, and • parents of teens reminded to go online to extend their child benefit claim. HMRC is running a webinar later this week on 26 June which will provide an overview of forms P11D and P11D(b), examine the benefits of submitting these online, and consider payrolling of expenses and benefits. However, it will not cover how to calculate the value of benefits. Need to know more about PSAs? Choose from the short videos in the 'PAYE Settlement Agreements' playlist, available on HMRC’s YouTube channel. Here’s a reminder of the key deadlines next month:  6 July 2025: deadline for submitting all 2024/25 P11D(b) and P11D forms (if benefits not processed via payroll) and the employee must receive their copy of the P11D,  6 July 2025: deadline for online reporting of the 2024/25 annual return in respect of employment related securities, 19 July 2025: deadline for non-electronic payment of Class 1A National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for 2024/25, and  22 July 2025: deadline for electronic payment of Class 1A NIC for 2024/25. 

Last week, Chartered Accountants Ireland's Director of Members and Advocacy Cróna Clohisey and Head of Public Policy Stephen Lowry were delighted to represent members at the National Economic Dialogue in Dublin Castle. Against the backdrop of the economic headwinds Ireland faces into, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe set the scene by saying "we are all aware of the things we need to do better [but] while there are tests, I know we can rise to them." During the course of the discussions, the Institute represented members' views to Government Ministers on measures to address housing shortages, childcare capacity and the ongoing regulatory and cost burdens facing SMEs. You can access the materials from this year’s National Economic Dialogue here.

That’s according to the Institute’s Northern Ireland Tax Committee chaired by Janette Burns when the Committee responded last week to the UK Government’s consultation ‘Reform of behavioural penalties’. A series of recommendations featured in the submission with the Committee concluding that the UK Government should implement more broad ranging reform of its enquiry regime, including behavioural penalties, by introducing a more graduated and tailored level of compliance interventions, similar to the regime currently in place in Ireland. The Committee also advocates that there is a need for the Government to do more to tackle tax complexity which can be a factor when a taxpayer makes an error that results in a penalty. In summary, the key recommendations are as follows: The minimum penalties for certain inaccuracies and failures to notify should be removed, No failure to notify penalty should be charged if a taxpayer pays the associated tax liability on time or has filed on time, even if they have not notified by the relevant deadline, A fixed reduction to each maximum penalty should be introduced based on the type of disclosure made by the taxpayer, HMRC should explore how fairer penalties can be introduced for the same error made in multiple tax years, The two categories of deliberate behaviour should be combined into one category and a more simplified regime should be introduced for taxpayers making a full unprompted disclosure in this category, Ireland should be excluded from the definition of offshore. Lower penalties should also be introduced for offshore inaccuracies, particularly where these are asset based. In addition, the offshore time limits should be reduced, Penalty suspension should be offered for careless errors on a routine basis and the conditions which must be met should be consistently applied and clearly set out in guidance so that the taxpayer and agent know what to expect and what will be required of the taxpayer, No new non-financial sanctions should be introduced, HMRC should conduct a full review of both the publishing deliberate defaulters legislation and the Managing Serious Defaulters Programme to assess their effectiveness as non-financial sanctions with a view to introducing reforms and improvements to each of these, A review should be conducted of the rates of interest charged and paid by HMRC which should also address the interaction with behavioural penalties, and A range of measures should be undertaken to tackle tax complexity, which should as a minimum include the establishment of a Tax Simplification External Forum reporting annually to Parliament.

From our engagement with members across Ireland, we know that the reporting of tax-free employee benefits in real-time continues to cause administrative headaches for businesses.  Following our recent meeting with Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson, Shay Brennan TD last week, the Deputy raised the issue via a Parliamentary Question to Tánaiste Simon Harris in Dáil Éireann. You can view the Deputy’s question here. We will continue to represent members’ views on this important issue in our lobbying activity in the run up to Budget 2026 over the coming weeks.

TaxSource Total is Chartered Accountants Ireland searchable, complete and freely available online tax resource. This excellent online resource has now been updated for Finance Act 2024. The legislation available includes the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, the Stamp Duty Consolidation Act 1999, the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003, and the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010.  (Please note that previous users may need to clear their cache (Ctrl+F5) to enable access to the updated content.) 

As we reported last week, the Institute officially launched its latest policy paper on 12 June ‘Enhancing Our Competitiveness – The Case for a Reduced Rate of Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland’. This is a key strategic objective in our lobbying activity reflecting the fact that in a survey of our members in February, 60 percent continue to signal their support for the activation of NI’s devolved powers to set its own corporation tax rate. Members who attended the launch in Belfast have been sharing their perspectives on why the time is right and how the economy will benefit.