Revenue has published updated guidance on the recoupment of overpayments of salary by an employer from an employee to include additional information and clarifications. Section 2 has been updated to include relevant content from three paragraphs previously referenced in other parts of the manual. A new example regarding 'Recoupment spanning a number of years’ has been included in section 3. Section 4 provides clarification on the procedure for an employee making a claim for a repayment of tax and USC and includes a new paragraph 4.3 regarding PRSI refunds. Section 5 has been updated regarding the recoupment of salary overpayment following the death of an employee. Periodic updates to dates and tax rates have been made throughout the manual.

Finance Bill 2025 was published last Thursday, containing the draft legislation to give effect to the various measures announced on Budget Day. The Institute will be engaging with Revenue and the Department of Finance and other stakeholders this week to discuss this year’s Bill through our participation in the Business Tax Stakeholder Forum and the Tax Administration Liaison Forum. We will be reporting back with a full analysis of Finance Bill 2025 in our Tax Newsletter next Tuesday 28 October. You can read  this year’s Finance Bill here and the accompanying explanatory memorandum here.  

Revenue has updated its dedicated agent and advisor e-linking webpage to provide enhanced guidance for taxpayers regarding the e-linking process for agent-link requests. A support video for myAccount users, along with an Agent e-linking FAQ document, are now available on the dedicated webpage.

Revenue has updated its guidance on payments arising on termination of an office or employment or removal from an office or employment to reflect the impact of unpaid leave on the calculation of the average taxable emoluments figure for the Standard Capital Superannuation Benefit (SCSB) exemption. The SCSB exemption is based on average salary for the last 36 months of employment and in some cases, an employee may have taken unpaid leave for a period during the 36-month period prior to employment termination. The guidance explains that salary details from beyond the last 36 months can be used in the SCSB calculation, to determine the average annual taxable emoluments, provided the person didn’t receive any other taxable pay during unpaid leave. If the individual continued to receive a contribution to a pension scheme and no other emoluments, that period is not treated as unpaid leave for the calculation. The guidance outlines that examples of periods of unpaid leave include unpaid maternity leave, unpaid paternity leave or unpaid parental leave.

Revenue has updated the Pensions Manual – Useful Contacts guidance to include contact details for the Department of Social Protection. It also clarifies that all queries regarding the operation and administration of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme should be directed to that department.

The European Commission has published a report on the application of VAT rate derogations by Members States revealing an uneven distribution of derogations. The report highlights many disparities, including that Ireland is the only country to apply zero VAT rates to children’s clothing and maritime services.

The Council has adopted the European Commission’s proposal for a mandate to start negotiations with Norway to conclude an agreement on administrative cooperation in direct tax matters. It is intended to establish a cooperation framework between member states and Norway by extending certain provisions of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation. This should assist with cooperating on tax recovery and in the fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance.

The EU has amended automatic exchange of financial account information agreements with Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino expanding the scope of reporting to include specific electronic money products and central bank digital currencies. The amendments are expected to come into force on 1 January 2026, thus strengthening the due diligence and reporting requirements which facilitates the use of information for tax administrations and limit burdens on financial institutions.

From the Professional Accountancy team…... The Apply AI Strategy was launched in October 2025 by the European Commission. It aims to harness AI’s transformative potential by increasing and supporting AI adoption and integration across key industrial and public sectors, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Strategy encourages an AI first policy where AI is considered as a potential solution whenever organisations make strategic or policy decisions, taking into careful consideration the benefits and the risks of the technology.  The European Commission has also launched the AI Act Single Information Platform and the AI Act Service Desk to support implementation of the AI Act and to provide resources and tools regarding the AI Act requirements.           

All members are obliged to sustain professional competence in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Code of Ethics.  The Institute’s CPD regulations detail the quantum and nature of CPD which is considered necessary for members to undertake.  Renewal of membership serves as formal acknowledgement of compliance with CPD obligations. CPD Monitoring The Institute monitors CPD compliance via random and risk-based selection, across its membership population. If selected for CPD review, members are required to submit records of CPD undertaken during the relevant period. CPD Requirements and Approaches CPD may be pursued through three approaches: Input-based: Focuses on completing a set amount of learning activities. Output-based: Emphasizes demonstrated outcomes that reflect maintained competence. Combination: Integrates both input and output methods, balancing activity levels with measurable results. Further information regarding the CPD monitoring process and requirements can be found at Support & Guidance – Continuing Professional Development Should you have any queries please contact cpdmonitoring@charteredaccountants.ie

Last week the European Parliament adopted a resolution containing suggestions for reforms to the tax architecture to boost competitiveness while continuing to address tax avoidance and evasion. The resolution will feed into the ongoing work on legislative simplification, with a dedicated proposal of the European Commission expected to be released in early 2026.

The EU has published an updated list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. While no new jurisdictions have been added to the list in Annex I,  Viet Nam has been removed from Annex II due to its successful implementation of the OECD’s BEPS minimum standard on Country-by-Country Reporting.  Annex II reflects the countries engaged in constructive cooperation with international partners.

The OECD Forum on Tax Administration will host a hybrid event on enhancing tax certainty on 31 October 2025 . The event will allow tax policymakers and administrations, business representatives, and other stakeholders to assess the tax certainty agenda and work towards further improvements in dispute prevention and dispute resolution. Registration for the event closes on 15 October 2025.

On 16 October 2025 the EU parliament’s subcommittee on tax matters will hold an Interparliamentary Committee Meeting on "The taxation of digital activities at national and international level, in light of ongoing developments at OECD/G20 level."

The Institute recently responded to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Finance Bill Sub-Committee inquiry into ‘Draft Finance Bill 2025-26’ which closed last week. The submission focused solely on the draft Finance Bill clauses which will restrict the scope of agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) from April 2026 and the disproportionate economic impact of these, especially in Northern Ireland (NI). The Institute is calling again for the Government to reframe this draft legislation ahead of April 2026, or alternatively, that the Government exclude NI from these changes. The Institute is scheduled to deliver oral evidence to this Committee in the Palace of Westminster next Monday 20 October. Our full response to this call for evidence will be published in due course in the Tax Representations section of our website, once the Committee has published its final report. The Institute’s response follows on from ongoing lobbying earlier this year when we wrote to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and responded to the related consultation. You can read more about the Institute’s work in this space since the Autumn Budget 2024 announced these changes via various stories in Chartered Accountants Tax News at the following links: https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-meets-hmrc-to-discuss-the-autumn-budget-2024, https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-tells-government-to-reframe-its-proposed-policy-changes-on-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief, https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/treasury-responds-to-institute-on-inheritance-tax-reliefs, https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/l-day-confirms-changes-to-key-inheritance-tax-reliefs-will-proceed-as-planned, and https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/News/institute-meets-with-local-government-to-discuss-april-2026-restrictions-to-iht-reliefs.

Last week the Institute was represented at an event in London ‘Remote work across borders: Navigating the legal and regulatory maze’ which discussed the complexity of working cross-border from a wide range of angles, including tax. In attendance was the Institute’s UK Tax Manager, Leontia Doran. Leontia was accompanied by Rose Tierney, the Institute’s representative from the NI Tax Committee and Tax Committee South cross-border and remote/hybrid working sub-group which was established in September 2024. Rose, a leading and well-known expert on this issue, co-authored the 2024 LEEF report commissioned by the ESRI ‘A study into the current conditions of the island of Ireland labour market, and challenges and opportunities for effective operation for workers and businesses across the island.’ Rose’s comments at the recent Centre for Cross-Border Co-operation all island labour market conference also featured widely in the media. At the event, Rose participated in a panel discussion with other experts. This included Bill Dodwell, former Director of the Office of Tax Simplification and now a non-Executive Director on HMRC’s Board, in addition to representatives from the ATT, the CIOT and other specialists. The panel discussed a range of case studies and the issues arising from modern working practices. The aim of the event was to highlight how wide ranging and complex the issues are from a tax, legal, finance, HR, data protection, insurance, and compliance perspective. The event has made clear that there is a need for the UK Government to recognise the complexities and consider policy changes to support cross-border working in a way that both embraces modern working practices and positively impacts the UK labour market and economy. Plans are also being developed to form a UK wide working group to lobby Government, in which the Institute is aiming to be a participant. What was also clear from the event is that these issues come into even sharper focus for cross-border workers on the island of Ireland. In effect, the issues that these workers have been facing for many years are now being faced by mobile employees across the globe. The Institute’s cross-border and remote/hybrid working sub-group comprises employment tax specialists in both the UK and Ireland and was set up last year to discuss and take forward the complex issues which arise from cross-border and remote/hybrid working on the island of Ireland. As part of its initial work, three key issues identified by the working sub-group featured in a recent letter by the Institute to HMRC’s new CEO JP Marks.

In this week’s miscellaneous updates: The latest HMRC Stakeholder Digest from 2 October is available, HMRC is holding a range of webinars for employers, these include a webinar later this month looking at phones, internet and homeworking expenses, and another in December which will examine expenses and benefits for employees with more than one workplace, HMRC’s Guidelines for Compliance team has published Help with Freeports — GfC14, and The Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025 has received Royal Assent. This legislation allows councils in Wales to introduce an overnight visitor levy and requires the registration of all visitor accommodation providers in Wales.

In this week’s cross-border developments and 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 sent more communications on the move to ICS2 and how to prepare, with documents specifically tailored to hauliers and carriers, intermediaries and agents and traders. Miscellaneous guidance updates and publications This week’s miscellaneous guidance updates and publications are as follows: Getting a customs guarantee, Check if you need a customs guarantee, Transit newsletters — HMRC updates, Section 21 — imports, Moving licensed goods into or out of Northern Ireland, Apply for a manual release of certain plant, animal and food products, Maritime ports and wharves location codes for Data Element 5/23 of the Customs Declaration Service, and List of customs training providers.

Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) request for information on the post-implementation review of IFRS 16- Leases. IFRS 16 came into effect in January 2019 and the IASB, in line with their due process procedures, are conducting a review of the standard to assess whether it is broadly working as intended for investors, companies, auditors and regulators. In its response to this request for information, the Institute’s Financial Reporting Technical Committee noted that IFRS 16 was “operating well for the vast majority of leases and that it has led to an improvement in financial reporting”. The Committee also highlighted some areas where the requirements of IFRS 16 remain unclear and where clarifications and additional guidance would be beneficial. Some of these areas include. Clarification in relation to some sale and leaseback scenarios, including sales in a corporate wrapper. Clarification regarding lessor accounting, including some scenarios where inappropriate accounting outcomes might arise. The impact that inflation may have on discount rates used, which is of particular relevance in today’s environment. Interaction between IFRS 9 and IFRS 16. Clarification regarding “in-substance fixed payments”, including the need for guidance regarding assets that generate nature-dependent electricity. The treatment of non-monetary consideration for leases (such as rental payments being based on potential produce from leased land).

Budget 2026 was announced by Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe on Tuesday to the general support of the business community and the juxtaposing ire of the opposition. The Institute’s view is that this Budget is one that balances prudence, thoughtful policy choices, and social support where it is most needed. The package announced is the highest projected public spending growth in the EU. So, it is not clear what more could be done while balancing the risk of intensifying inflationary pressures.  The Budget, of course, is as much a political balancing act as it is an Exchequer one. With that said, we are in the enviable position of running a projected Budget surplus of €10.2 billion this year and a revised projected surplus of €5.1 billion in 2026.  Total spending is projected at €117.8 billion, comprising €97.7 billion in current spending, €19.1 billion in capital investment, and a further €1 billion in unallocated resources. This is an increase of almost €11.4 billion when compared to the Budget Day estimate for 2025. The tax package for Budget 2026 is €1.3 billion, however the full year costs for the measures announced will be approximately €2.3 billion.  The notable omission from the tax package were increases to the income tax standard rate band and the universal tax credits. As I mentioned above, there is always a political dimension to policy making, and so we can reasonably expect a return to income tax changes as we move on into the election cycle. With that political nod made, putting more money by way of tax increases into people’s pockets against the backdrop of inflationary risk can be stood over from a policy perspective. It is not popular, but it is arguably prudent.  Instead, the Government has prioritised enterprise-focused tax changes. They have reinstituted the VAT9 for the hospitality sector, effective from 1 July 2026. They have shown their commitment to the Special Assignee Relief Programme and the Foreign Earnings Deduction, extending these key reliefs for a further five years to 31 December 2030. They have listened to our profession’s call for a targeted, time-limited tax-based lever to stimulate the supply of apartments by instituting VAT9 for the sale of completed apartments, effective immediately. And in a very welcome surprise, they have increased the lifetime limit for disposals of qualifying assets under the Revised Entrepreneur Relief by €500,000 to €1.5 million, effective 1 January 2026.   Clearly, there is much in Budget 2026 that I have received positively from a tax policy perspective. While a lean Budget in some respects, it is a courageous statement from a Government that is willing to make choices to steer the economy towards ever greater prosperity. The Institute, under the auspices of the CCAB-I can reflect positively on our engagement throughout the year with the Government and its institutions in supporting the tax policy agenda, having the hard conversations, and stimulating the ongoing discourse needed to arrive at reasonable choices.  For more information on Budget 2026, you can read our Special Budget Day 2026 Tax Newsletter. Gearóid O'Sullivan ACA CPA