The European Commission has put forward a Recommendation on Tax Incentives to support the Clean Industrial Deal (CID) to build a competitive, climate-neutral industrial base. The initiative outlines a comprehensive framework to assist  Member States with designing cost-effective tax measures that stimulate investment in clean technologies and industrial decarbonisation.

Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) is a joint initiative of the OECD and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The OECD has published a report that charts the evolution of the initiative, highlights key milestones and examines the results achieved by TIWB over the past decade. The report also explores how TIWB will continue to innovate and explore opportunities to meet the rising demand for practical, hands-on capacity building from tax administrations worldwide.

The OECD has published a report which provides an overview of the activities by countries in 2024 and the results of effective collaboration in addressing tax evasion and avoidance, improving revenue mobilisation, and in advancing tax policy and administration reforms. The report also summarises a recently concluded independent evaluation of the group’s tax and development work

On 22 July,  members of the FISC Subcommittee will travel to Dublin for a day of meetings and discussions on tax policies, the fight against tax avoidance and tax simplification. The objectives of the visit are to gain a better understanding of Irish tax policies and to have direct engagement by the subcommittee with key policymakers, tax authorities and stakeholders on critical issues

Revenue has updated the tax and duty manual Addresses in Company cases to provide more comprehensive guidance for companies on how to update their official and/or business addresses through ROS or myAccount. The manual confirms that all relevant requests must be raised via ROS.

Revenue has updated guidance in several collection tax and duty manuals including the guidance on the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) tax clearance, the agents guide to the Collector General’s division and the guidance on using online payment methods. The stamp duty manual relating to property searches has also been updated. The guide on Tax Clearance for Standards in Public Office applicants has been updated to reflect a reference to the judicial appointments commission and to include relevant contact information. The updated guidance on property searches using PRAI and ST21 returns and property valuations replaces references to the Property Registration Authority with ‘Tailte Eireann’. The manual on using online methods to make a payment to Revenue has been updated to confirm that from 1 September 2025,Revenue will no longer accept payment by means of a commercial debit card. The revised agents guide to the Collector-General’s division notes that Revenue has removed the facility to pay tax liabilities by single debit authority from multiple paper returns. The guide also outlines that Revenue will not accept payment by means of a commercial debit card from 1 September 2025.  

Revenue has released a four-part video presentation providing guidelines on completing the research and development (R&D) tax credit panels on Form CT1 for 2024. The videos cover R&D expenditure incurred in the accounting year ended 2024 as well as any remaining instalments due from 2022 and 2023. Each video covers certain topics as follows: Part 1 covers the relevant legislation, including how to correctly complete the sections for grants and subcontractor costs. Part 2 outlines how to claim for carried forward amounts under section 766(4B) TCA 1997, including guidance on completing the relevant panels on the Form CT1 in respect of the instalments from years 2022 and 2023. Part 3a and 3b cover how to make claims under section 766C TCA 1997. Part 4 explains how to claim group relief and highlights common errors made when completing the Form CT1 for 2024. The links to the videos are available on a dedicated Revenue webpage.

Revenue has issued new guidance on the VAT treatment of admission to events outlining the relevant place of supply rules for events and related ancillary services. The guidance also sets out the new place of supply rules, effective from 1 January 2025, for virtual or streamed events delivered to non-taxable individuals. The relevant place of supply rules will be determined by considering whether the event is a physical event, a virtual event or an electronically supplied service and if the supply is to a non-taxable person or to a business. A useful summary table is included in section 4.4 of the guidance summarising the various rules. The guidance confirms that the rate of VAT applicable to admission to an event depends on the type of event being held. Ancillary services associated with admission to an event follow the same place of supply rules applicable to the event itself. The manual relating to the VAT treatment of education and vocational training has also been updated as it includes a consequential amendment arising from the new place of supply rules.

The Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have published the Fiscal Monitor for June 2025 confirming an Exchequer surplus of €4.5 billion to the end of June. This compares to a surplus of €3.1 billion recorded for the same period last year. Tax receipts collected to the end of June were €49.5 billion, which was €4.7 billion higher than the same period in 2024. Excluding the once off receipts from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgement in the Apple State Aid case, total receipts amounted to €47.7 billion, an increase of €3 billion on the corresponding period in 2024. Income tax receipts for the month of June were €2.9 billion which was €0.1 billion ahead of receipts collected in June 2024. On a year-to-date basis, receipts to the end of June of €17.4 billion were up by €0.7 billion (4.3 per cent), when compared to end of June 2024. June is considered a significant month for corporation tax payments and receipts of €7.4 billion were collected last month which was an increase of €1.5 billion compared to June 2024.  On a cumulative basis, receipts of €14.8 billion represented an increase of €2.6 billion on the same period last year. When the once-off CJEU receipts are excluded, cumulative corporation tax receipts to June 2025 amounted to €13.1 billion, up on the same period last year by €0.9 billion. VAT receipts collected in the month of €0.2 billion reflecting the fact that June is a non-VAT due month. Cumulative receipts of €11.6 billion were ahead by 5.8 percent on end of June last year. Commenting on the figures, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe said: “June is a key month for tax receipts. The steady performance across most revenue streams in the first half of the year is a positive sign of the strength of our economy as we navigate a deeply uncertain period. Corporation tax receipts in June have seen a sharp increase, which follows a sharp decline last month. This serves as a reminder of the extreme volatility in this revenue stream, and of its inherent unsuitability as a basis for permanent spending commitments” Commenting on the figures, Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers said: “Tax revenues are strong. As we prepare for Budget 2026, we need to carefully manage expenditure in the second half of the year, while continuing to commit the necessary resources to improve our public services, support our people and enhance quality of life across our country.”

The regulatory difficulties facing frontier workers in Ireland are having an increasing impact on the all-island labour market. The lack of clarity and indeed fundamental barriers to employment are significantly impeding the mobility of cross-border workers. Last Thursday, the Institute’s Head of Public Policy, Stephen Lowry raised the issue directly with the UK’s Minister of State for Europe and North America Stephen Doughty MP at a meeting hosted by the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. Minister Doughty agreed to personally bring these issues to the attention of his colleagues in HM Treasury. Earlier in the week, the Institute’s Head of Tax, Gearóid O’Sullivan attended a meeting convened by InterTradeIreland with Minister Peter Burke, Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and Minister Caoimhe Archibald, Department for the Economy NI. The Institute is working with InterTradeIreland to address issues relating to the mobility of workers. Last year, the Institute formed a working group to discuss the complexity of cross-border employment arrangements across the island. We informed the Ministers that the Institute’s working group will be writing to them later in the summer with our initial recommendations. Both Ministers noted that they welcome the insights from the group.

Last month we highlighted the key aspects of how the 2025 Spending Review will specifically impact on HMRC. Overall, the Spending Review announced an additional settlement for HMRC of £0.5 billion in 2026/27 which will be used to “make HMRC a digital-first organisation”. The Department was also set two ambitious targets related to this; that by 2029/30, 90 percent of taxpayer interactions will be digital self-serve and HMRC will have reduced the number of letters it sends by 75 percent. The Institute recently met with HMRC to discuss this.    In the meeting we highlighted to HMRC how ambitious these targets are and expressed concern about the impact on current service levels as HMRC seeks to achieve these targets. The transition to a digital-first organisation must not result in a deterioration of service levels and HMRC will need to communicate clearly how it will deal with incoming post as it moves to becoming digital first.     We also asked when HMRC expects to publish both its digital roadmap and its broader transformation roadmap which will be critical elements in seeking to achieve these targets. HMRC noted that these are expected to be published over the summer and both will set out in more detail how HMRC intends to achieve the targets set by government. The Institute will continue to discuss this and service levels with HMRC; we welcome your feedback at any time on this by email to tax@charteredaccountants.ie.     The House of Lords Treasury Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the Spending Review and continues to take oral evidence from experts.  

The Institute is pleased to advise that HMRC will be delivering a webinar for our members on Tuesday 16 September 2025 on Making Tax Digital for income tax. The webinar will cover key technical points and readiness tips ahead of the first phase of mandation from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with gross income above £50,000. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions. More details, including a booking link, will be available in the coming weeks.