The purpose of National Workplace Wellbeing Day is to raise awareness of the importance of wellbeing in the workplace at a national level and to ask organisations to pause and reflect on how they support their people.  This year, Irish employers are invited to focus on a theme that is deeply human: belonging.  Most of us know what it feels like when we have a sense of belonging. Belonging is not about fitting in. It is about feeling accepted, valued and included.  In the workplace, belonging influences how safe people feel about speaking up, how motivated they are to contribute, and how likely they are to stay, progress and excel.  We also know what the absence of belonging feels like. It’s holding back in meetings. The sense that your contribution doesn’t quite land or is fully appreciated. It's never being fully at ease or hiding your authentic self. Over time, that disconnection takes a toll on our confidence, motivation and wellbeing.  As organisations navigate ongoing change, hybrid work and rising complexity, belonging has emerged as a core element of workplace wellbeing, and one of the clearest signals of a healthy workplace culture.  The link between belonging and wellbeing Wellbeing is often framed as something individual, personal and singular. But in actuality, our wellbeing is shaped just as much by relationships and environment as by personal habits.  People are more likely to feel good at work when they feel accepted and valued. Belonging lowers stress, builds psychological safety and makes it easier to ask for help when things get tough. When challenges arise – as they always do – a sense of connection acts as a buffer.  Conversely, when people feel excluded, overlooked or invisible, the impact is quiet at first, but long-term disengagement creeps in. This is when ‘quiet quitting’, absenteeism and turnover shows up.  Belonging is lived Many organisations have invested time and effort in diversity and inclusion work, often focusing on policies, representation and formal commitments. By prioritising inclusion, employees feel valued and supported which leads to stronger team cohesion and a positive organisational culture. But belonging goes a step further.  Belonging is about everyday experiences and interactions:  Do people feel safe sharing ideas or concerns?  Are different perspectives genuinely welcomed?  Is flexibility applied fairly and consistently?  Do people believe their work and contributions matter?  Belonging is subtle, it develops and grows in daily interactions and in the small signals about what is valued and who is heard.  The power of leadership behaviour  Leaders and management often underestimate how much their words, tone and behaviour shape belonging. Small moments matter, it's how a manager reacts to a mistake, whose voice is acknowledged in a meeting, and whether personal circumstances are met with understanding or impatience.  Belonging is built when leadership teams:  Listen without rushing to respond  Show curiosity about different views and experiences  Acknowledge effort, not just results  Are honest and transparent, especially when decisions are difficult  Model healthy boundaries and respect  Belonging in the changing ways of working  Hybrid work has brought welcomed flexibility, but it has also changed how belonging is created and developed. Informal moments, shared context and visibility don’t happen as easily when teams are dispersed.  This means fostering a sense of inclusion and belonging needs to be a more deliberate and considered process. Belonging depends on fairness, clarity and trust. When flexibility feels uneven or communication is inconsistent, people can quickly feel left out or undervalued. When expectations and standards are clear and fair, connections can thrive.  Psychological safety: Where belonging becomes real  For belonging to truly thrive in the workplace, there needs to be a psychologically safe culture. This is a term that is gaining popularity in organisational psychology, but at its essence, it is about creating an environment where learning, honesty, and growth are possible.  At a practical level, belonging shows up as psychological safety. People feel they belong when they can ask questions, challenge ideas, admit mistakes or say they’re struggling without fear.  Psychological safety isn’t about lowering standards, but it is about allowing employees to feel like they can ask questions, challenge ideas, admit mistakes or say they’re struggling without fear, reprisal or stigma.   Teams with high psychological safety tend to be more engaged, more resilient and better at navigating change. They are also healthier places to work.  Belonging in the everyday National Workplace Wellbeing Day doesn’t need to be busy or performative to be meaningful. Creating space for honest conversation, and really actively listening to what comes back, is a powerful starting point.  Belonging can’t be delivered by HR alone, and it can’t be confined to a single day or week. It’s built in everyday choices. How work is designed, how pressure is managed, how people are treated when things aren’t going well.  This year’s theme is a reminder that wellbeing isn’t just about individual strength. When people feel they belong, work becomes more human, more sustainable and more meaningful – for individuals and for organisations alike.  If you would like some advice on workplace wellbeing or on your own personal wellbeing, the Thrive wellbeing team is professionally trained to offer wellbeing advice and support to help you on your wellbeing journey.  You can contact the team by email at: thrive@charteredaccountants.ie or by phone: (+353) 86 0243294.  

Below we have compiled the latest updates to VAT legislation, publications, briefs, and guidance.   Late payment interest if you do not pay VAT or penalties on time,  VAT Government and Public Bodies,  VAT on goods exported from the UK (VAT Notice 703),  Business promotions (VAT Notice 700/7),  Charging and reclaiming VAT on goods and services related to private school fees, Pay the VAT due on your Import One Stop Shop VAT return,  Check if you can register for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme,  Completing an Import One Stop Shop VAT return as an intermediary on behalf of your client,  Pay the VAT due to HMRC as an intermediary on behalf of your client for their Import One Stop Shop VAT return,  Submit your Import One Stop Shop VAT return,  Register your client to allow you to act as their intermediary for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme,  Submit an Import One Stop Shop VAT return as an intermediary on behalf of your client,  Register to act as an intermediary for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme, VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme for an intermediary,  Cancel or make changes to your VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme registration,  Cancel or make changes to your intermediary or client VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme registration,  Register for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme,  Using an intermediary to register and act on your behalf for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme, and  Check if you can register to act as an intermediary for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme. 

In this week’s cross-border developments and trading corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications. The most recent Trader Support Service bulletin is also available as is the latest Brexit and Beyond newsletter from the Northern Ireland Assembly EU Affairs team. And finally, the Government’s Borders Directorate Communications Team has sent a reminder about the launch last week of the revised returned EU consignments process which featured in last Monday’s Chartered Accountants Tax news.  Cross-border guidance updates and publications  This week’s guidance updates and publications are as follows:  UK Trade Tariff: duty suspensions and autonomous tariff quotas,  Register to complete origin declarations under the UK-India Free Trade Agreement,  Simplified Process for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM) and UK Carrier (UKC) Scheme: Additional Procedure Codes,  Submit a pleasure craft report,  Internal temporary storage facilities (ITSFs) codes for Data Element 5/23 of the Customs Declaration Service,  External temporary storage facilities codes for Data Element 5/23 of the Customs Declaration Service,  Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS),  Appendix 2: DE 1/11: Additional Procedure Codes of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS),  Amend or cancel a Customs Declaration Service import declaration, and  Classifying ceramics for import and export. 

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, HMRC is holding webinars on the new temporary repatriation facility which commenced from 6 April 2025, and HMRC is writing to businesses which may have missed the deadline to register for the UK’s Pillar 2 online service.   Readers should also note the following:  HM Treasury has published the final version as it has been laid in Parliament of its ‘Charter for Budget Responsibility – Autumn 2025’ publication which sets out sets out the Government's approach to fiscal policy and management of the public finances,  HMRC has recently updated its VAT Government and Public Bodies manual to reflect the findings of the Supreme Court in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust [UKSC/2024/0048] in which it was held that HMRC correctly treated hospital car parking charges as subject to VAT,  The minutes of the 131st Joint VAT Consultative Committee meeting in January 2026, which the Institute was represented at, have been published,  The Government has published a call for evidence on the taxation of stablecoins which closes next week on 7 May,  The Institute for Fiscal Studies has published ‘Assessing recent changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ (SDIL) which concludes that planned reforms to the SDIL will have little impact on the government’s efforts to tackle obesity, and  Updated HMRC guidance has been published which confirms that trusts must be registered with the Trust Registration Service before they can create a capital gains tax on UK property account or submit a paper return, even if the trust is usually exempt.  Temporary repatriation facility webinars  HMRC is delivering webinars this week and next on the temporary repatriation facility (TRF), a time limited measure available for the tax years 2025/26, 2026/27, and 2027/28 which allows former remittance basis users to designate unremitted or uncertain amounts of foreign income and gains in order to pay a reduced tax rate.   Each webinar will explain what the TRF is, how it works, and who can use it, and will cover:     the designation process,   qualifying overseas capital, uncertain amounts,   time limits and record-keeping,  mixed‑fund ordering rules,   offshore transfer rules, and  joint accounts and third parties.   The webinars will also look at how the rules apply in practice, with plenty of examples. However they won’t cover the planned extension of the TRF to trusts which will be addressed in a future webinar. Register now for one of the 90 minute live webinars on 27 April or 6 May 2026.   Pillar 2 letters   Last month HMRC began writing to those businesses which it believes has missed the deadline to register for the UK’s Pillar 2 domestic top-up tax and multinational top-up tax HMRC online service. The letter sets out who needs to register, and the actions the business should take. Businesses must take appropriate action within 42 days of the date of the letter.   The letter also highlights that the group must decide which entity is responsible for completing the Pillar 2 registration. This will be the Ultimate Parent Entity, unless it nominates another entity in the group to be a Nominated Filing Member.  If a group meets the requirements to register, it must register the group using HMRC’s Pillar 2 online services. If a group has already registered, the group is asked to email HMRC at pillar2mailbox@hmrc.gov.uk. If the group consider that it is not in the scope of the Pillar 2 rules, it should similarly email HMRC using the same mailbox address. 

Last week a delegation from the Institute’s tax team, including representatives from its special working sub-group on cross-border and remote/hybrid working, met in Belfast with Northern Ireland’s Minister of Finance John O’Dowd MLA, to discuss the ongoing barriers to the all-island labour market as result of tax complexity facing businesses and frontier/cross-border workers.   In February this year, the Institute wrote to Minister O’Dowd requesting a meeting to discuss solutions for those employers and workers affected by the byzantine tax administration and compliance requirements in the UK and Ireland which have been exacerbated by hybrid and remote working in recent years. In 2025 we also wrote to HMRC’s CEO JP Marks on this issue, which also featured in the Institute’s pre-budget submission ahead of the 2025 Autumn Budget.  Last week’s meeting with the Minister and his officials was an engaging and productive discussion which focused on the three key issues highlighted in our initial letter whilst also discussing solutions. The Institute will continue to engage with the Minister and his team as this important work progresses.    Earlier this month on 13 April we also met with officials from the Department of Finance in Dublin to discuss the same issues following on from a similar letter to Tánaiste Simon Harris during which his team noted the Tánaiste’s support for the work. This was a similarly engaging meeting the outcome from which is that our engagement with the Irish Government will also continue as Irish Department of Finance officials progress this work on their end.    Readers may be aware of the joint statement issued by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and An Taoiseach Micheál Martin following the UK-Ireland Summit in Cork last month. In that statement, the leaders jointly said that they “welcome agreement to engage on reaching a decision in principle this year on a bilateral Ireland-UK approach to address concerns arising from hybrid cross-border working and to consider other aspects of the UK-Ireland Double Taxation Convention which may require updating.”   The Institute had previously recommended in its 2025 UK pre-budget submission that a bilateral agreement be considered as a policy solution which would significantly reduce the substantial complexity faced by employers and employees affected by these issues. The Institute will be including a similar recommendation in its Pre-Budget 2027 submission to the DoF which will be published in the coming weeks.     As a result of these recent meetings, it is clear and encouraging that Westminster and Dublin are taking a joint approach to this matter which will naturally also require engagement and input from ministers and officials in Stormont. Ultimately, this work may also open up opportunities for the leaders in Dublin, Belfast, and London to consider broader measures which would support the economic development of Northern Ireland beyond the all-island labour market.  

Revenue has informed us that it is aware of an issue with filing the ROS 2025 Form 11 where the person is assessed as a single individual. An ‘unexpected error’ message is returned when the taxpayer is assessed as single, regardless of the XML content submitted. Revenue intends to release a fix for this later this week. 

Revenue has updated its guidance on company reconstruction or amalgamation: transfer of assets to outline that the relief continues to apply to chargeable assets of UK resident companies following the enactment of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020.

Revenue has updated its guidance on foreign entity classification for tax purposes to include information relating to section 1009A TCA 1997  which was introduced by Finance Act 2025. This new section provides that a foreign body corporate and its members will be taxed in Ireland in the same manner as a partnership and its partners where it is substantially similar to an Irish partnership. The updated guidance includes additional details on the application of caselaw tests and removes information now included in the guidance on the taxation of partnerships.

Revenue has updated its share‑farming guidance to reflect the Basic Income Support for Sustainability and Agri‑Climate Rural Environment schemes, which are now the main agricultural support programmes.

The Department of Social Protection recently published the General Scheme of the Social Welfare and other Matters Bill 2026 which amends and extends the Social Welfare Acts, the Civil Registration Act 2004, and the Charities Act 2009 and to provide for related matters. Head Eight of the Bill places the revised Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status (the Code) on a statutory footing and requires deciding officers to consider it when determining whether the person is employed or self-employed for PRSI purposes. The updated Code was published to reflect the 2023 judgment of the Supreme Court in The Revenue Commissioners v Karshan (Midlands) LTD t/a Domino’s Pizza. Under a previous Government decision, a commitment was made to place the ‘Code of Practice for Determining Employment Status’ on a statutory footing by issuing it in the form of a Statutory Instrument (Government Decision S180/20/10/0229R).

The Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation have jointly published the Annual Progress Report 2026. The report outlines the latest forecasts and assesses the current state of the economy, with the Government warning that heightened geopolitical risks and disruptions to global energy supplies now pose a significant threat to inflation, growth and the public finances. The report outlines three scenarios—baseline, adverse and severe—with projections that vary depending on geopolitical issues such as the depth and duration of the conflict in the Middle East. Under the baseline scenario, inflation is projected to average 3.3 percent this year, an increase of 1.4 percent compared to the autumn forecasts. Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) is projected to increase by around 2 percent this year before accelerating to 3 percent next year. In the adverse scenario, inflation is projected to rise to 3.7 percent in 2026. Inflation moderates somewhat thereafter, but remains elevated in 2027, averaging close to 3.5 percent next year. In the severe scenario, average annual inflation is projected to be 4.6 percent in 2026, with end year inflation rates significantly higher, potentially reaching 6.5 percent in the final quarter. While inflation begins to ease in 2027, it remains elevated and averages just over 5.3 percent. Tax revenue is projected at €110.8 billion this year with nearly one-third expected to come from the corporate sector. The corporation tax forecast reflects additional revenues generated from the higher rate of corporation taxation applied to the profits of firms with annual turnover in excess of €750 million, reflecting global corporate tax policy changes. Commenting on the publication, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris said ‘This year’s Annual Progress Report is being published at a time of considerable global uncertainty. Recent developments in the Gulf have resulted in significant disruption to global energy markets, and while efforts towards de‑escalation are welcome, the situation remains volatile. The turbulence in the international environment is a reminder of the importance of keeping our approach to overall budgetary policy balanced and sustainable across the medium-term. Looking ahead, policy formulation for Budget 2027 will take place over the summer, and the appropriate fiscal policy will be considered as part of the Summer Economic Statement. Given the elevated level of uncertainty, it is important to stress that our assessment published today is more akin to a scenario analysis; my officials will, of course, continue to monitor incoming data and developments and update numbers accordingly.’

Revenue has updated its guidance on the Research and Development (R&D) corporation tax credit to reflect Finance Act 2025 changes including new examples where relevant. The key changes include the increase in the rate of the credit from 30 percent to 35 percent, and the increase in the first instalment threshold amount from €75,000 to €87,500. Other changes include: Details of the administrative simplification measure allowing 100 percent of an employee’s emoluments to be included as qualifying expenditure where that employee performs at least 95 percent of their duties in the carrying on of qualifying R&D activities, and A clarification that expenditure incurred on the construction of a qualifying building includes expenditure incurred on the construction of a laboratory to be used in the carrying on of qualifying R&D activities. For accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2023, claims for the R&D tax credit are required to be made under section 766C and/or section 766D Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997.  Therefore, material in relation to claims for the R&D tax credit under section 766 and section 766A TCA 1997, together with associated examples, have been removed from the guidance.  Guidelines in relation to claims for the R&D tax credit under these sections are included on the R&D TDM page on the Revenue website  under the section for ‘Show older versions’.