Revenue has published a new Tax and Duty Manual – Requests for Transfer Pricing Documentation, which documents Revenue’s operational policy for requesting transfer pricing documentation as part of its risk appraisal process. According to the detail of the TDM, this process seeks to ensure that a consistent approach is applied to all transfer pricing documentation requests and that such requests appropriately fit within Revenue’s Compliance Intervention Framework.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual which provides guidance to taxpayers who wish to continue to rely on an opinion or confirmation issued by Revenue in the period 1 January and 31 December 2018, in respect of a transaction, period or part of a period, on or after 1 January 2024. Application for renewal or extension of such an opinion or confirmation is required to be made by a taxpayer on or before 29 March 2024.

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual which provides guidance on the Charities VAT Compensation Scheme. The updated guidance reflects the increase to the annual capped amount available to be paid out of the Charities VAT Compensation Scheme fund. With effect from January 2024, the annual fund is set at €10 million.

Revenue has published a new Tax and Duty Manual to provide guidance on the income tax exemption of certain profits from the microgeneration of electricity by an individual at their sole or main residence. Section 216D TCA 1997 provides for an exemption from income tax, USC and PRSI for certain profits arising to a qualifying individual from the microgeneration of electricity. For tax years 2022, 2023 and 2024 the exempt amount is €200, a qualifying individual is not required to declare such profits in an income tax return, any amount in excess of the exempt limit is required to be declared as income. Finance Bill (No. 2) 2023 includes a proposal to amend section 216D TCA 1997 by increasing the amount of profits exempt from income tax, from €200 to €400 per year and extending the scheme by one year to the end of 2025. In this regard, the manual will be updated following enactment of the Bill.

A reminder to readers that Finance Bill (No.2) 2023 introduced an amendment to the collection and reporting requirements for taxes related to share options. The taxation of a gain realised on the exercise, assignment or release of share options no longer falls under individual self-assessment. Instead, taxes must be accounting for through the payroll system.  This means that employers will be responsible for collecting income tax, USC and PRSI from employees on share option gains and remitting those taxes to Revenue as part of the payroll process. This treatment will apply to gains realised on or after 1 January 2024.

From 1 January 2024, the upper age limit for exemption from PRSI is being raised from 66 to 70 years for employees, their employers and the self-employed. From that date, all employees and self-employed persons aged between 66 and 70, and born after 1 January 1958, will continue to be liable for PRSI until they have been awarded the State Pension (Contributory). For those who have already reached age 66 by 1 January 2024, their PRSI position will be unaffected by the changes. In conjunction with these changes, from 1 January 2024, an individual will be able to draw their State Pension (Contributory) between ages 66 and 70, providing them with an opportunity to improve their contribution record at date of drawdown. Further information is available here.

The Institute, under the auspices of the CCAB-I, has responded to the public consultation on the roadmap for the introduction of a participation exemption to Irish corporation tax. This consultation focuses primarily on the dividend participation exemption. The key message remains that the CCAB-I supports the introduction of a participation exemption for both foreign dividends and foreign branch profits. The main points from our response are: In recent years, measures introduced under the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative, and the EU Minimum Tax Directive are aligned with a territorial system of taxation (of which a participation exemption for dividends is one part). We recommend careful consideration of the method of relief, i.e. whether the optimum relief is by way of an exemption (similar to section 129 Taxes Consolidation Act (“TCA”) 1997) or as a deduction from total profits. Our initial sense is that a deduction will be preferable when considered in light of the EU Minimum Taxation Directive and the Interest Limitation Rule. We recommend that the relief is drafted to provide broad optionality. Ideally, we recommend that taxpayers can opt to apply the rules on a distribution-by-distribution basis. We recommend that the exemption should apply by default with the option to claim double taxation relief on a distribution-by-distribution basis. We strongly support the formation of a committee under the umbrella of the Main Tax Administration Liaison Committee (TALC). In the context of the implementation of the EU Minimum Taxation Directive, the TALC BEPS Sub-Committee has proven the benefit for all stakeholders in addressing technical, legal, accounting and commercial uncertainties.

Following the signing of a Commencement Order by the Minister for Finance last week, all employers will be required to make returns of certain non-taxable benefits and expenses in real-time under the Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) from 1 January 2024. Revenue has however advised that “a service for compliance approach will be taken until the 30 June 2024”. During this period, Revenue will not be operating any compliance programmes in relation to the ERR and will not seek to apply any penalties for non-compliance. Since the measures were first announced in last year’s Finance Act, the Institute, under the auspices of the CCAB-I, has consistently raised our members’ concerns with the new requirements. In addition to several submissions to Revenue, we wrote to the Minister for Finance on two separate occasions (here and here), seeking the abolishment of the real-time reporting requirement and more recently a delay to the implementation date. While disappointed with last week’s announcement, we urge members to ensure they are enabled to commence reporting under ERR from 1 January 2024. For the avoidance of doubt, the non-taxable benefits which will be reportable in 2024 are: Non-taxable reimbursements of travel and subsistence Benefits provided under the small gift exemption The remote working daily allowance. There are three ways employers can choose to report: Direct reporting through a software package ROS File upload ROS Online Form. The video for converting CSV files to JSON format had just been uploaded to the ERR hub page on the Revenue website. We understand the regulations underpinning the legislation will be published shortly and will include details on penalties for non-compliance.  You can find more information on the measure on Revenue’s website and we will keep you up to date on developments in Tax News.

The OECD has published the seventh annul peer review report on exchange of information on tax rulings. The 2022 report indicates that over 54,000 exchanges of information took place in respect of over 24,000 tax rulings across the 131 jurisdictions profiled. Of the 131 jurisdictions included in the report, 100 are fully aligned with BEPS Action 5.  

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Do you use HMRC online services? Don’t be caught out by the planned downtime to some services. HMRC are warning about the non-availability of specific services on the HMRC website, a range of services are impacted. Check the relevant page for information on planned downtime.  

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