Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.    In developments this week, IAASA previously published a guidance note on Reporting to the Director of Corporate Enforcement in 2019. The guidance note has been re-published with updated referencing arising from the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021, updated ISAs and other relevant legislation; the Financial Reporting Council has announced the launch of a new initiative to assist smaller firms in conducting high-quality audits in the Public Interest Entity (PIE) market. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.  Financial Reporting The Financial Reporting Technical Committee of Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to the Financial Reporting Council’s recent exposure draft ‘FRED 83’. The amendments proposed in this exposure draft address how deferred tax should be accounted for under FRS 101 and FRS 102 where a company is subject to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Pillar Two Model Rules. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued an updated Endorsement Status Report, which now reflects the publication of amendments to IAS 7 and IFRS 7 (Supplier Finance Arrangements) and IAS 12 (Pillar Two Model Rules). The IASB has published the Exposure Draft International Tax Reform- Pillar Two Model Rules- Proposed Amendments to the IFRS for SMEs Standard. This follows similar proposed amendments to International Accounting Standards and FRS 102. The IASB has issued its May 2023 update and podcast. IAASA previously published a guidance note on Reporting to the Director of Corporate Enforcement in 2019. The guidance note has been published with updated referencing arising from the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021, updated ISAs and other relevant legislation. The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has issued its draft comment letter relating to the IASB Exposure Draft Amendments to Classification & Measurement of Financial Instruments (Proposed amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7) for public consultation. Comments on this are requested by 26 June 2023. The UKEB is holding some roundtable discussions on 20 and 21 June to discuss the IASB’s forthcoming Request for information on the Post-Implementation Review of IFRS 15. This month’s International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) meeting was held on 22-24 May. The May IASB Update podcast includes: a summary of the supplementary meeting the IASB held on 3 May about proposed amendments to the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard relating international tax reform; progress made in the Primary Financial Statements project; The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on 30 May launched a call for stakeholders’ feedback on its post-implementation review of the expected credit loss requirements in IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.  The ‘expected credit loss’ model in IFRS 9 replaced the previous ‘incurred credit loss’ model, which only allowed credit losses to be recognised when a loss event occurred. The UKEB has published a joint Draft Endorsement Criteria Assessment on Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current — Amendments to IAS 1 issued by the IASB in January 2020; and Non-current Liabilities with Covenants —Amendments to IAS 1 issued by the IASB in October 2022. Comments are requested by 8 June 2023. Audit The Financial Reporting Council proposes to revise International Standard on Auditing (UK) 505 External Confirmations to reflect recent enforcement findings and to ensure that the standard is reflective of modern approaches to obtaining confirmations with additional material on the use of digital platforms, enhanced requirements in relation to investigating exceptions and a prohibition on negative confirmations. Comments are requested by 1 September 2023. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced the launch of a new initiative to assist smaller firms in conducting high-quality audits in the Public Interest Entity (PIE) market. The Scalebox initiative aims to promote competition and choice in the PIE audit market and support the FRC's role as an Improvement Regulator. Insolvency The CCAB-I Insolvency Committee has recently published Technical Alert 03 2023 Changes to examinership regulations. This Technical Alert provides updates on significant changes to the examinership process following the introduction of The European Union (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022 (SI 380/2022) and outlines a number of the key amendments to Companies Act 2014 arising from the transposition of EU Directive 2019/1023. Sustainability In its recently released publications, the International Federation of Accountants (in collaboration with the We Mean Business Coalition , Accounting for Sustainability, the Global Accounting Alliance and World Business Council for Sustainable Development) discuss how accountants can get greenhouse gas reporting in order. Other News The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) has published a joint Discussion Paper seeking stakeholders’ input on aspects of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). This Discussion Paper follows the European Commission’s request for technical advice on the criteria for critical ICT third-party providers (CTPPs) and the oversight fees to be levied on them. Interested stakeholders are invited to provide their input by 23 June 2023. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.  

In this week’s EU exit bulletin, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications relevant to EU exit and you can also read the Institute’s submission to the House of Lords inquiry into the Windsor Framework (“WF”). Key messages from a recent meeting with HMRC on the WF are also available and the Retained EU Law Bill is proceeding through the final stages in the House of Lords. The latest Trader Support Service and Borders Weekly Stakeholder Bulletins have been published. And finally, we bring you news of an enhancement to the Goods Vehicle Movements Service (“GVMS”). Enhancement to the GVMS. From 16 May 2023, HMRC introduced an enhancement to the GVMS which means that taxpayers can now upload up to 2,500 Import Movement Reference Numbers for EU to Great Britain movements. Retained EU law bill Report stage of Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill took place last week on 15 and 16 May in the House of Lords. Peers in the House proposed amendments to the Bill, with the Government defeated on several occasions. One significant amendment was made for changes to the Bill to be subject to greater parliamentary scrutiny via referral to a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.   Miscellaneous updated guidance etc. The latest guidance updates, and publications relevant to EU exit are as follows:- Schedule of Retained EU law; Pay no import duties or VAT on importing goods for testing; Pay no import duty and VAT on importing commercial samples; Pay no import duty or VAT on donated medical equipment; Pay no Customs Duty or VAT on blood grouping, tissue typing and therapeutic substances; and Pay no import duty or VAT when importing animals for scientific research.

In this week’s public policy bulletin, we take a look at a report published this week by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council on Ireland’s top corporation taxpayers. We also review the latest unemployment rate estimates from the CSO, the state of consumer confidence in May and the latest Labour Force statistics for Northern Ireland. A third of Irish corporation tax estimated to have been paid by just 3 companies – report New research published this week by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) estimates that just three corporate groups accounted for around a third of all corporation tax revenues collected between 2017 to 2021. The research paper, titled “Understanding Ireland’s Top Corporation Taxpayers”, seeks to better understand this concentration of Ireland’s corporation tax receipts amongst a handful of large, foreign-owned multinationals. The report’s estimates were arrived at using publicly available financial statements with a number of different approaches employed to calculate the level of corporation tax paid by the companies analysed. However, in doing so, the report concedes that there are “several limitations” to its analysis, particularly because most large groups “are not required to disclose the amount of corporation tax they pay in Ireland”. Unemployment rate falls to record low according to latest CSO estimate Ireland’s unemployment rate reached a record low of 3.8 percent in May, falling below the previous record of 3.9 percent last seen in April 2001. Unemployment had stood at 4.2 percent the same month last year. According to its estimates, the CSO recorded an unemployment rate for men of 4.1 percent in May, compared to a rate of 3.4 percent for women in the same period. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate eased to 6.9 percent in May, down from a revised rate of 7.7 percent in April. According to the estimate, the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed stood at 103,300 in May, compared with 106,500 in April of this year. You can read the full statistical release here. Consumer confidence at highest level in over a year – Irish League of Credit Unions Irish consumer confidence improved further in May (reaching a 14-month high) and signalling “a continuing easing in concerns about the economic outlook” according to the latest Consumer Sentiment Index from the Irish League of Credit Unions. This, the report points out, contrasts with significantly weaker US sentiment as the general consumer mood here has evidently been impacted by a “stronger Irish economy and buoyant Budget outlook”. However, consumers are still cautious on spending plans with a majority planning to curtail spending in coming months due to a prevailing feeling that “the worst of the cost-of-living crisis is not behind them at this point”. Nonetheless, the index is now at 62.4, showing the trend of improving sentiment that has been underway since last year is now well established and stronger than elsewhere in the euro area. Latest Northern Ireland NEET statistics released (young people who are not in education employment or training)   According to the latest Labour Force Survey released by the NI Statistics and Research Agency, there were an estimated 18,000 young people aged 16 to 24 years in Northern Ireland who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in January to March 2023. This was equivalent to 9 percent of all those aged 16 to 24 years in the region. By comparison, the proportion of young people who were NEET in the UK during the same period was 10.6 percent. In January to March 2023 there were an estimated 13,000 young people aged 16 to 24 years in Northern Ireland who were NEET and who were not looking for work and/or not available to start work (economically inactive).

In Irish news, Revenue decommissions regional numbers and amends its Agent’s Guide to the Collector General’s Division. In UK news, read the first in a series of key messages from a recent meeting with HMRC on the Windsor Framework (“WF”) and the Institute’s submission to the House of Lords Protocol Committee inquiry into the WF has been accepted as evidence and is available to read. In International news, Viet Nam deposits its instrument for the MLI. Ireland Revenue decommissions regional telephone numbers, replacing them with a central number for agents seeking service in relation to business taxes. Revenue has amended its 'Agent's Guide to the Collector General's Division' to reflect the latest operational processes and current due dates. UK Read part one of our key messages from a recent meeting on the WF. The Institute’s submission to the House of Lords Protocol Committee inquiry into the WF has now been accepted as evidence and is available to read. International Viet Nam recently deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI).     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.          

The Financial Reporting Technical Committee of Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to The Financial Reporting Council’s recent exposure draft ‘FRED 83’. The amendments proposed in this exposure draft address how deferred tax should be accounted for where a company is subject to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Pillar Two Model Rules. In December 2021, the OECD published its Pillar Two model rules. The rules are part of a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The Pillar Two model rules: aim to ensure that large multinational groups pay a minimum amount of tax on income arising in each jurisdiction in which they operate; and would achieve that aim by applying a system of top-up taxes that results in the total amount of taxes payable on excess profit in each jurisdiction representing at least the minimum rate of 15%. The proposals by the FRC introduce temporary exceptions to the accounting for deferred taxes arising from these rules, along with targeted disclosure. These rules will impact only a small number of companies as the Pillar Two rules are intended to apply to multinational groups with consolidated revenue over €750 million, subject to certain exclusions.

As you approach qualification you may decide to review your cv and test the market by doing a few interviews. After you qualify it will be important to get a read on the market and examine what your profile and experience is worth out there. Now, every single interview is different, obviously. However, you do still have to prepare comprehensively for each one and you should always be aware of what style of interview you will be facing. If you can get a guide on the style from your recruiter or HR rep it can be invaluable. Here are a few styles to note … The aggressive serious interviewer Style :  This can be an interviewer who is bullish, arms folded and hard to read. Doesn’t give anything away. They may stare off into the distance in an uninterested way. They may already have a person picked for the role in their own mind and just going through the motions. Either way they are not warm or friendly. How to tackle : Relax, you have nothing to lose here. They are probably not a person you want to work directly with so put your shoulders back and bolster your confidence. Its time for you to turn the table subtly and interview him/her with them being aware of it. Be friendly and warm yourself. Ask lots of questions. Lean in and be interested. Discover if the team and culture is the same as the interviewer. You may in fact not want to work here but practice and refine your own interview style. The inexperienced Interviewer Style : The interviewer may be nervous and under prepared in terms of what to ask. The questions may be random. They are not really testing your competencies. They are not asking you to give examples. Its all a bit watery and nothing particularly deep, technical or probing. Sometimes the interviewer doesn’t even really know what they are looking for in a candidate and are just drifting along with the process. It’s a learning curve for them. How to tackle : If your interviewer is poor its up to you to make  up for it. Sell yourself. Pre-empt what they should be asking you and give good relevant examples nonetheless. Give STAR style answers to come across as professional. Outline your value-add for the role. Ask insightful questions. Perhaps put them at ease with compliments about the organisation and thanks for the meeting and an ice-breaker story. Keep your demeanour warm and positive. The ‘old-school’ interviewer Style : The questions in this interview with be predictable and broad eg Tell us about yourself.. Why do you want to work here / in this job? Why should I hire you? Etc. A bit stayed, tired and unimaginative. How to tackle : Even though the line of questioning may be boring and un-probing you will still need to prep your answers well – if you know these questions are coming why not add colour to your answers and have exceptional answers and examples ready to go selling all your key strengths for the role. Treat it as a chance to really get your personality across and constantly have your radar switch on as to whether this sounds like a place you really want to work.   The Formal Interview Style : This will be a structured format. It may even be a panel interview. You could be aware of the key talking points going in to it. The interviewers may be a bit poker faced and hard to read. Very often these re competency based interviews demanding you give relevant examples of past work and experience. It’s possible the interviewers will actually be scoring you on your answers and grading you versus the competition. How to tackle : Treat this like you would an open book exam. They are great interviews to have experienced and will make you a better interviewee in the long run. Lots of prep and research required in advance. Smile, be confident, and since you know the competencies sought you have well structured examples and key points you want to get across. Like any exam you don’t everything across but at least you can go in with a plan. The Informal Interview Style :  Often couched as ‘just a chat’ or a ‘meet and greet’ or a ‘cup of coffee meeting’. Don’t underestimate however! This is very much an interview and a chance for you to put your best foot forward. Experienced Interviewers like this interview approach as it allows them to get to know the candidates’ personality very quickly and whether they are a cultural fit. A good interviewer will ask open ended questions and afford you the chance to sell your own strengths. How to tackle : In this style of interview you need to be switched on to the cues to sell your strengths for the role. You should have done as much homework as possible to ascertain what the interviewer is looking for (even if there is no job-spec) and choreograph your chat in order to position your profile positively for the interviewer. Note your Body language, Be interested in the role and complementary of the company. Asking good questions throughout the conversation is key.   As mentioned, every interview is different and there are many more types that you will encounter in your career, positive and negative. The key is to get good advice and guidance before you meet. This can be from HR, your recruiter or from the Careers Team in Chartered Accountants Ireland.  We welcome all members scheduling interview prep with us at any stage so bear this in mind as you qualify and get in touch as needed. Dave Riordan (FCA) Recruitment Specialist & Career Coach | Careers Team Chartered Accountants Ireland. Dave.riordan@charteredaccountants.ie          

Date: 21/06/2023 Time: 11 am Register now When you’re running a busy firm, nothing’s more valuable than time. You want to see the best return, so investing your energy and cash strategically is a no-brainer. Let’s show you how your firm could save thousands of hours a year by streamlining your internal operations and cutting down on tedious manual work, to keep those unbillable hours to a minimum. We’ll discuss how you can speed up your onboarding process, better manage your tasks, cut down on email admin, track your team’s time, give your firm’s communication a glow up, and much more. Here’s the agenda: The value of time and the current difficulties firms just like yours are facing How to speed up the time it takes to onboard new clients Ways to transform your firm’s internal operations to help to free up your time to prioritise high value tasks Other methods to cut down on unbillable hours, including emails, time tracking, document storage and much more Q&A Webinar fee: €0.00 Places are limited. Secure your spot here. If you can’t make the time or date, please register anyway and you’ll receive the recording after the webinar ends.   Let us introduce you to Bright, where we don't just provide top-notch software solutions, but also world-class customer support that accountants and bookkeepers can rely on. Our aim is to make your job easier by offering a seamless portfolio of solutions to support your clients efficiently and profitably. What sets us apart from the competition? At Bright, we’re all about listening to our customers. Your feedback is key to our success. This isn’t just talk – our products are used by over 400,000 businesses and have a 99% customer satisfaction rate! We’ve created award-winning software solutions, including payroll, accounting, practice management, tax, and HR software. Plus, our founders have over 30 years of industry experience, so you know you're in good hands. And if you're a Chartered Accountants Ireland member, we have some exclusive deals for you. Check out our website for our current offers. What solutions do we provide? AccountancyManager will automate your admin tasks, such as onboarding, task management, time tracking, and email automation, making your workload lighter; BrightPay will make managing your payroll quick and easy; Dext Prepare will extract all written data from uploaded documents and send it straight to your accounting software (yes you read that right!); and Surf Accounts Production will save you time when producing financial statements. Discover Bright's software solutions. This article is sponsored by Bright

Date: 21/06/2023 Time: 11 am Register now When you’re running a busy firm, nothing’s more valuable than time. You want to see the best return, so investing your energy and cash strategically is a no-brainer. Let’s show you how your firm could save thousands of hours a year by streamlining your internal operations and cutting down on tedious manual work, to keep those unbillable hours to a minimum. We’ll discuss how you can speed up your onboarding process, better manage your tasks, cut down on email admin, track your team’s time, give your firm’s communication a glow up, and much more. Here’s the agenda: The value of time and the current difficulties firms just like yours are facing How to speed up the time it takes to onboard new clients Ways to transform your firm’s internal operations to help to free up your time to prioritise high value tasks Other methods to cut down on unbillable hours, including emails, time tracking, document storage and much more Q&A Webinar fee: €0.00 Places are limited. Secure your spot here. If you can’t make the time or date, please register anyway and you’ll receive the recording after the webinar ends.   Let us introduce you to Bright, where we don't just provide top-notch software solutions, but also world-class customer support that accountants and bookkeepers can rely on. Our aim is to make your job easier by offering a seamless portfolio of solutions to support your clients efficiently and profitably. What sets us apart from the competition? At Bright, we’re all about listening to our customers. Your feedback is key to our success. This isn’t just talk – our products are used by over 400,000 businesses and have a 99% customer satisfaction rate! We’ve created award-winning software solutions, including payroll, accounting, practice management, tax, and HR software. Plus, our founders have over 30 years of industry experience, so you know you're in good hands. And if you're a Chartered Accountants Ireland member, we have some exclusive deals for you. Check out our website for our current offers. What solutions do we provide? AccountancyManager will automate your admin tasks, such as onboarding, task management, time tracking, and email automation, making your workload lighter; BrightPay will make managing your payroll quick and easy; Dext Prepare will extract all written data from uploaded documents and send it straight to your accounting software (yes you read that right!); and Surf Accounts Production will save you time when producing financial statements. Discover Bright's software solutions. This article is sponsored by Bright

Revising for exams may not be the most favourite thing on your ‘to do’ list, but it’s crucial for helping make sure you get your qualifications under your belt.  You’ll no doubt remember from your school days that we all learn differently. Some people instantly grasp things or need to re-read information before it sinks in. While others are more visual or practical learners. Some are even fortunate enough to only have to read or be told about something once before grasping it right away.  Revision is a necessity for avoiding exam failure, but when you’ve got multiple things to factor in at the same, such as, work and a family, it can be difficult to find the time to do it. To help you overcome this common challenge, here are 8 best practice tips for maximising your productivity when revising.  Best practice tips for getting your revision done more efficiently  Start with reflection   Once an exam’s over and you’ve got your results, it’s natural for you to immediately want to forget about it, especially if you’ve passed. But before you put the exam and all of your learnings to the back of your brain, take the time to reflect on your performance. If you have more exams to take, analysing your previous exams can help shape how well you do going forward. For instance, you may want to ask yourself, ‘what aspects did I do well in? Where did I struggle? Did I have any information gaps? It’s an incredibly valuable exercise you can do in just a matter of minutes.  Plan your time As obvious as it may sound, good time planning is central to making sure you revise everything you want and need to revise for your exam.  Think about how much time you realistically have to dedicate to revising between now and your exam. Be strict with yourself too, schedule out actual chunks of time, not a few minutes here and there, and make sure you stick to them. Another obvious point - the sooner you start your revision, the more likely you are to complete it in time with minimal stress.  Recap on your revision Repeatedly recapping what you’ve learnt is essential when it comes revising. It not only applies to past exam performance, but it should also be built into all of your revision sessions.  At the end of each revision session, close your book or laptop, and then get a piece of paper and pen and draw out two columns. Use them to identify:   what you know.  what you’re not sure of/need to concentrate on.  Be realistic Cramming in too much revision within unrealistic timescales will only make you feel extremely stressed. It will also lead to you not completing all of your revision in time.  The key to productive revision is fully understanding the scale of the task ahead of you. While you’re following the pointers in tip number 2, also consider how many topics you have to learn and then break the information down into manageable sections. From that point, you should then be able to calculate how much you’ve got to revise against how many days/hours you’ve given yourself to do it.  Consider your environment  You may revise best when you’re in complete silence or you may find listening to calming music or tuning into Lo-Fi white noise, which can help support your state of flow, gets you in the revision zone.  When it comes to your revision surroundings, having a clutter-free space and a door you can close behind you to shut out wider noise and distractions, is really important too. You may find looking out of a window or at a wall helps you focus. Or you may revise better when sat at a desk or on a sofa. What’s happening around you can really influence your revision, so make sure you give it some thought.  Summarise your learnings A really effective way of getting something to sink in is by saying it out loud and then writing it down. Summarise the information into half a page of writing, then keep going over it. Once you think you’ve retained it, reduce it down even further by writing in on something smaller, such as a flash card. Once you’ve nailed the flash card, then condense your learnings down to sticky notes and dot them around your house or revision space for useful revision prompts.  Test yourself The entire revision process involves testing yourself; your memory in particular. When you’re at the stage where you’ve revised all of your topics and have streamlined them down into smaller prompts that you can easily recall, that’s the time to start testing yourself. When you’re doing this, don’t look at your books or notes (as much as you’d like to). While it may be frustrating to still not remember certain things, testing yourself will immediately show you what you know and what you need to spend more time learning.  Practice to perfection When you’re at the stage where you feel your revision is complete, make sure you can apply your knowledge to what you’re inevitable going to be asked.  You can easily do this by completing past papers and answering practice questions. While you won’t be asked these questions in your exam, you’ll no doubt have to focus on the same or similar topics. And if you’ve identified what those topics are, then you should hopefully be able to confidently answer your new exam questions.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach to revising, but there are plenty of tactics you can follow, like those listed above, to help perfect how well you do on exam day.   Thrive has a wealth of resources available to students, for more on exam preparation check out out recent webinar 'Exam preparation and your wellbeing'  Article reproduced with the kind permission of CABA, the organisation providing lifelong support to ICAEW members, ACA students and their close family around the world.

Professor Patricia Barker has been recognised for her contribution to the accountancy profession. She received the “Outstanding Contribution to Accountancy” award at the 2023 Irish Accountancy Awards in Dublin. Professor Barker sat her accounting exams 50 years ago this year, becoming only the 20th female chartered accountant in Ireland in 1973. The Outstanding Contribution category recognises an individual whose work demonstrates a sustained commitment to the advancement of the profession. It recognises the exceptional abilities and achievements of Professor Barker, as well as her commitment to the organisations and teams she has worked with, and to the industry overall. Previous recipients of the award include Elaine Coughlan, FCA, Dr Laurence Crowley, CBE, FCA and Dr Margaret Downes FCA.   Chief Executive of Chartered Accountants Ireland, Barry Dempsey said  “Patricia Barker has devoted decades of service to the advancement of the chartered accountancy profession in Ireland, and around the world, and the Institute was fortunate to have her expertise on Council for almost a decade. She played an integral role in the advancement of education in accounting and finance over many years. At a time when it is more critical than ever that we attract a new generation of students into the profession, we have a renewed appreciation of the importance of her work. “The extent of her engagement beyond the profession however, on such a variety of boards and international bodies, is an outstanding embodiment of the role that Chartered Accountants can and should play in society. Her devotion to fostering higher ethical standards, greater equality and protecting basic human rights is a source of enormous pride for all of us who have had the pleasure of working alongside her at different junctures.” Accepting the award, Professor Barker said “It’s such an honour to accept this recognition. Our profession opened up to women in 1918, and it’s encouraging to see women now making up 50% of our numbers. It’s so important for women to act as mentors to other women entering the profession. “There is so much opportunity in the modern profession beyond the conventional accounting roles, and I would encourage chartered accountants to entertain opportunities to expand their careers, even it seems risky.  The sense of anxiety that accompanies these opportunities should also be embraced and balanced by a set of personally developed ethical values.” The Irish Accountancy Awards were launched in 2016 to celebrate excellence in the accountancy profession across a total of 27 categories.  

Revenue has today confirmed that the facility to make claims under the extended Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS), in relation to periods from 1 May to 31 July 2023, is now open. This has been supported by the publication of updated TBESS guidance, to reflect details of the extension of the scheme. Claims relating to the extended periods will automatically be assessed based on the 30 percent energy cost threshold and the relief due will be calculated based on 50 percent of the eligible energy costs incurred by the business. A monthly cap of €15,000 per trade (subject to an overall monthly cap of €45,000) will also be automatically applied to these claims. The TBESS claim portal can be accessed via the e-Repayments system in Revenue’s Online Service (ROS). Businesses who have already registered should update their reference period details in ROS e-Repayments for May - July 2022 in advance of submitting a claim for the periods May – July 2023. Claims for all periods must be submitted no later than 30 September 2023. Eligible businesses that have not yet registered for the TBESS, or have not yet started or fully completed the claim process for any claim periods are encouraged to do so now, given the claims deadline of 30 September 2023. To assist businesses in applying for the scheme, Revenue has recorded a number of ‘How To’ videos, which can be viewed here. As of 25 May 2023, 29,057 businesses have registered for the TBESS and 42,787 claims have already been approved. These approved claims have a value of €94.52 million.    

Following the Central Bank of Ireland’s Dear CEO letter of 20 January 2023 and, in particular, the requirement that payment and e-money firms obtain a specific audit of their compliance with the safeguarding requirements under the PSR/EMR an acceptable format for these engagements has been agreed. We will issue guidance to our members on performing these engagements in due course.  Payment and e-money firms are required to prepare a detailed document setting out a description of aspects of their organisational arrangements to secure their compliance with the relevant safeguarding requirements under the PSR/EMR.   Theses forms should also prepare an assertion, approved by the Board of directors, stating that in all material respects 1 the description is fairly presented, and 2 the controls and processes included in the description were operating as described at the reference date. Further details are outlined in the Safeguarding Notice to Payment and E-Money Firms. These reports are due by 31 October 2023.  Members will be informed via eNews when our guidance is published.