Last week, the European Parliament and the European Commission co-hosted the EU Tax Symposium 2025. Under the theme of "Strengthening competitiveness and fairness to build prosperity”, the event brought together finance ministers, members of the European Parliament and National Parliaments, policymakers, academics and civil society to discuss the future of tax systems in the EU.

We remind readers that the deadline for filing the annual share scheme returns for 2024 due by employers and trustees operating share schemes is 31 March 2025. The relevant forms and information on the filing obligations are available on Revenue’s share reporting obligations webpage. Our news item from 24 February 2024 includes further information on the forms.

The latest UK tax tidbits features the updated guidance in several areas including updated guidance on the suite of the UK’s creative sector tax reliefs. Appeals reviews and tribunals guidance, Negligible value claims and agreements, HMRC issue briefing: operational activity during the new independent review of the Loan Charge, Apply to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions when abroad (CF83), Taxable pay tables: manual method, Supplementary pages CT600N: Residential Property Developer Tax, Class 1A National Insurance contributions on benefits in kind (CWG5), CWG2: further guide to PAYE and National Insurance contributions, Check if a letter you've received from HMRC is genuine, Named tax avoidance schemes, promoters, enablers and suppliers, Check if an email you've received from HMRC is genuine, Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method, Child Benefit notes for coming to or leaving the UK, Check the recognised overseas pension schemes notification list, How to pay a debt to HMRC with a Time to Pay arrangement, Inheritance Tax account (IHT400), Direct Payment Schemes for Inheritance Tax (IHT423), Claiming Children’s Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Theatre Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Orchestra Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Video Games Expenditure Credits for Corporation Tax, Claiming Film Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Animation Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming High-end Television Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Video Games Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief for Corporation Tax, Claiming Audio-Visual Expenditure Credits for Corporation Tax, Creative industry tax reliefs for Corporation Tax, Detailed tax guidance for charities, Claim a refund if you've paid tax on your savings and investments, What to do when someone dies: step by step, Pension savings — tax charges (Self Assessment helpsheet HS345), Research and Development (R&D) Tax Relief: Enhanced R&D intensive support for loss-making SMEs based in Northern Ireland, GAAR Advisory Panel opinion of 29 October 2024: Reducing the value of an estate for Inheritance Tax and avoiding Inheritance Tax on a lifetime transfer by acquiring shares in a company and gifting those shares to an employee trust, Manage your trust's details, GAAR Advisory Panel opinion of 29 October 2024: Reward through creation of an obligation to make pension payments to employees and the transfer of that obligation to another employee in exchange for payment, and How to pay a debt to HMRC with a Time to Pay arrangement.

In UK news this week, HMRC is launching a new email enquiry service for agents, a long-standing recommendation of the Institute, and we invite you to share your views on two important consultations. In Irish news, Revenue has updated several Tax and Duty manuals including the manuals on the reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses and capital gains tax clearance by non-resident vendors. In International news, the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package is adopted by Member States. Ireland 1. Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual on the reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses. 2. Read about the updates to the manual on capital gains tax (CGT) clearance requests by non-resident vendors. UK 3. Get in touch with your views on two important consultations recently announced by HMRC. 4. Read about the new email enquiry service for agents launched by HMRC. International 5. Read about the measures included in the recently adopted VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package. Keep up to date with all the latest Irish, UK, and international tax developments through Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Tax Newsletter. Subscribe to the Tax News by updating your preferences in MyAccount. You can also read this week’s post EU exit corner.

The Commission has issued a reasoned opinion to Spain for failure to allow the deduction of directly related expenses when calculating withholding taxes on royalty payments received by non-resident taxpayers. Spain has two months to respond and take the necessary measures.

The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union on a failure to remedy an infringement in relation to the free movement of capital (Article 63TFEU) leading to a discriminatory tax treatment of non-resident taxpayers.

The European Commission has released its latest data on taxation trends in all EU countries, Iceland and Norway. The data provides statistical information on tax revenue by economic function, type of tax, level of government and implicit tax rates, enabling the assessment of tax systems from various perspectives.

The European Council has reached political agreement on a further amendment of Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC9). The amendment will streamline the filing obligations and reduce the compliance burden for companies arising under the Pillar 2 Directive, as it enables MNEs to file one top-up tax information return for the entire group at a central level.

The VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package was adopted on 11 March 2025 following further consultation of the European Parliament. Once enforced, Member States will be able to introduce mandatory e-invoicing under specific conditions, and improvements will be made to the Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) framework for improved controls.

Revenue has recently updated three other Tax and Duty Manuals. The updated manuals relate to the Form P11D, the pensions manual for overseas employment and statutory registration fees paid to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council. Details are set out below. The manual Form P11D includes further details on what is required to be included on the form, The pensions manual Overseas Employers, Overseas Employees and Employees seconded from Overseas has been updated to remove outdated material, and The manual Deduction for statutory registration fees paid to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council (CORU) has been updated to include the list of professions regulated by the CORU and the professions which have the CORU annual statutory fee included in the relevant flat rate expense allowance.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual Schedule E expense deductions for employed consultants and non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs). The updates include a link to the manual General Rule as to Deduction of Expenses in Employment which provides further guidance on the following: The principles for determining tax deductibility of general expenses incurred in the performance of the duties of employment, and Flat rate expense allowances and the relevant claim process. The list of publicly funded hospitals in Ireland has been updated in Appendix 1.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual Statement of Affairs (Probate) Form SA.2 to outline a change to the process for submitting requests for clearance from Revenue to distribute benefits to non-resident beneficiaries.  Requests for clearance must submitted individually for each beneficiary to protect the integrity of each beneficiary’s personal information. A solicitor can use a TAIN (“Transaction Advisory Identification Number”) to submit each request for clearance separately to Revenue. Information on the use of the TAIN is included in the manual.