In a letter to the CCAB-I, Revenue stated that a pragmatic approach will be taken to late filing surcharges for the 10 December income tax deadline. The letter was in response to representations made by Chartered Accountants Ireland, under the auspices of the CCAB-I, to Revenue calling for the suspension of late filing surcharges and time bound correspondence from Revenue under the current Level 5 lockdown conditions.
Chartered Accountants wrote to 220 members of the Oireachtas on 9 October to highlight the difficulties facing businesses in meeting the tax deadlines and CRO deadline due to COVID-19. Deputy Richard Bruton raised concerns as outlined in our letter of 9 October with Minister Donohoe in a parliamentary question on 20 October and with Minister Varadkar also in a parliamentary question on 20 October. The suspension of late filing surcharges was raised in a parliamentary question again with Minister Donohoe on 3 November and he said that Revenue assured him that a pragmatic approach would be taken to late filing surcharges in respect of the 10 December income tax return deadline.
The CCAB-I called for the suspension of the late filing surcharges in its pre-Budget 2021 submission. The CCAB-I set out the challenges facing businesses and accountants in meeting tax deadlines due to COVID-19 in our discussions with Revenue at Main TALC in September and October. Chartered Accountants Ireland also called for the suspension of the late filing surcharges in the Next Financial Year.
Revenue previously confirmed to the CCAB-I that a pragmatic approach would also be taken to late filing surcharges relating to the 31 October income tax deadline.
The income tax deadline of 10 December applies to taxpayers who pay and file on ROS. It also applies to taxpayers who have underpaid preliminary income tax for 2019 and have a phased payment arrangement in place with Revenue by 10 December. In addition, the 10 December deadline applies to taxpayers who qualify for the income tax debt warehousing scheme.