Revenue has clarified that when a taxpayer is aware that its agent is trying to link and the agent has sent the elinking request, the taxpayer can navigate directly to the “mange agent link requests” on either ROS or myAccount to accept the linking request. The notification email or ROS inbox item is only to inform the taxpayer that they have a link request to action and is an additional support for the taxpayer on the timing of a link request. 

The European Commission is assessing the potential tofurther simplify and update the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), in line with the EU's Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal. In seeking input on the scope and content of its review of GBER it has launched a Call for Evidence and public consultation which will remain open until 6 October 2025.

Revenue is aware that an issue has arisen whereby a recent a fix to the Form 11 has inadvertently cleared certain RPF Form 11s which were in progress or have been issued to clients for approval. This has resulted in a requirement for the forms to be completed again from the beginning. Revenue has informed us that its technical team is working to reinstate the lost details on the affected Form 11s.

The Council has formally adopted new VAT rules for distance sales of imported goods. The new rules, agreed earlier this year, will make suppliers liable for import VAT and VAT on certain distance sales. Foreign traders or platforms using the VAT Import One-stop Shop will not need to be registered in each Member State.

The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council has published its annual report for Government on the key competitiveness and productivity challenges facing the Irish economy. The report contains specific policy actions to address the challenges identified. The report highlights the recently implemented Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) for employers as a contributing factor to rising labour-related costs, driven by the requirement for employers to comply with additional reporting obligations mandated by ERR. The Council has recommended that a review is undertaken of the proportionality of the current ERR rules with consideration to be given to amendments for SMEs below a certain threshold (i.e., below 20 staff and/or below €1m in annual turnover) to lower the relative administrative burden.  Welcoming the report, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD, said: "I welcome the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council’s analysis and recommendations, as set out in Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2025. I also welcome the various positive findings by the Council about Ireland’s competitiveness performance – including an overall ranking of 7th in the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings – and concur with the Council’s assessment that we must not take our strong position for granted, given the highly competitive and uncertain global context in which we find ourselves. It is important for Ireland to retain its core strengths while addressing weaknesses. This work by the Council is highly valuable to Government. This year’s Challenge report has been an important input into the development of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity which was discussed at the second annual Competitiveness Summit this week. The government will take the recommendations from the Council into consideration and will issue a formal reply in due course."

Last week, the Institute’s Tax and Public Policy team met with the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD to discuss current sentiment among SMEs and the challenges they face in terms of labour, operating and regulatory costs. At the meeting, we continued to highlight the difficulties that the Enhanced Reporting Requirement is causing for businesses, and we urged for the introduction of a monthly or even quarterly reporting requirement, rather than the current ‘on or before’ obligation. In terms of the recent increases in the costs of doing business, the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has a broad range of grants available and information on these can be found here. We expressed our support for these vital sources of funding for businesses, while also acknowledging the challenges some smaller businesses face in accessing the grants.

The OECD has published second round Peer Review Reports on the exchange of information on request for Madagascar, Oman, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago. The assessed jurisdictions are expected to follow up on any recommendations made and the ultimate goal is to effectively implement the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request for tax purposes.

In Irish news this week, the US Administration has announced that it is extending the temporary suspension of tariffs on EU imports and Revenue has confirmed its continued commitment to the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process. In UK news, the Institute recommends that the medium sized transfer pricing exemption remains in place for Northern Ireland businesses transacting with Ireland, and ‘L-day’ will take place in a few days’ time on Monday 21 July. In International news, the European Commission has adopted an implementation regulation to facilitate automatic exchange of top-up tax information under DAC9.  Irish  President Trump signed the Executive Order to extend the suspension of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on EU imports until 1 August 2025 and subsequently announced that a 30 percent tariff would be imposed thereafter.  Revenue issued a news update last week reaffirming its commitment to the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP).  UK  The NI Tax Committee recommends in a consultation response that the medium sized transfer pricing exemption remains in place for NI businesses transacting with Ireland.    This year’s legislation day, or ‘L-day’ as it is sometimes known is scheduled for Monday 21 July.   International  The European Commission has adopted an implementation regulation to facilitate automatic exchange of top-up tax information under DAC9.  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 here. 

The European Commission has adopted an Implementing Regulation which aims to provide technical solutions to facilitate the automatic exchange of top-up tax information return between Member States under the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC9). The objective of the regulation is to ensure taxpayers comply with their Pillar 2 Directive obligations, while minimising the administrative costs associated with tax compliance. 

The OECD has published a report titled Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2025 which provides harmonised data on tax revenues for 37 economies in the region, including Niue for the first time. The report finds that on average tax revenues have increased which is mainly driven by higher VAT receipts.

The OECD has published an overview of the wide-ranging activities delivered last year by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) in supporting developing countries improving their tax systems. There has been increased demand by developing countries for supports offered by the OECD, which include policy analysis and design, tax administration, international collaboration, and multilateral and bilateral capacity building.

Revenue has updated the filing guidelines for DAC 2 – Common Reporting Standard (CRS) to confirm that the CRS XML Schema Version 3.0 and User Guide 4.0 recently published by the OECD will come into effect from 1st January 2027 and will be used for all filings from that date onwards. The guidelines have also been updated to include a link to CRS Schema information under Annex 3 of Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters.