The guidance on the Cost of Living Accommodation Allowance for Representative Church Bodies has been updated to include details of the allowance for 2025 and to update relevant examples accordingly.

Revenue has published updated guidance on the Residential Premises Rental Income Relief (RPRIR) providing information on the availability of the relief and other credits for non-resident landlords. Section 1032 TCA 1997 provides that in certain circumstances a portion of personal credits, reliefs, and deductions, including the RPRIR are available for non-resident landlords. The guidance outlines that this portion is determined by the ratio of the Irish source income to the total income of the individual, and the taxpayer is required to complete the ‘Worldwide Income’ field on the ‘Personal Details’ panel of the Form 11.

Revenue has updated its guidance on the Incapacitated Child tax credit to reorganise the content and to provide additional clarifications on claiming the relief. The relevant updates are as follows: A new summary paragraph has been included to provide clarity on certain terms referred to in section 465 TCA 1997. Paragraph two addresses the timing of when the individual became permanently incapacitated. The following references have been removed from paragraph three: the criteria to provide a doctor's certificate or similar medical report, and maintaining for the purposes of the credit Paragraph five confirms that the incapacitated child tax credit is not available where a tax deduction for employing a carer for an incapacitated person has been claimed

Revenue has updated its guidance on submitting and managing queries submitted on MyEnquiries via ROS. The update (in paragraph 1.3) advises taxpayers that the dropdown menu option may not be available for some users. In these cases, Revenue advises that the system will automatically categorise the correspondence.

On 17 March 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave the Mais lecture at Bayes Business School. The lecture was delivered just two weeks after the Chancellor’s Spring Forecast speech on 3 March which had signalled that the Chancellor would be setting out more information on the UK economy and fiscal plans in her Mais lecture. With the sound of sirens continuing in the Middle East as the Chancellor spoke last week, the Chancellor set out three ‘big’ economic choices by the government and what actions the Government says it is taking to address these. The first of these choices is the news that the Chancellor will be pushing ahead with plans to develop a roadmap for future fiscal devolution which will be published at this year’s Budget. This will set out plans to give regional leaders control of a share of some national taxes which are currently allocated by central government. The roadmap will look at income tax, alongside other taxes, with reforms initially targeted at those places that have the greatest capacity to deliver them, and the greatest potential to benefit.  According to the Chancellor’s speech, reforms will be fiscally neutral and will focus on sharing and retaining a portion of existing revenues, with the proceeds of growth benefiting the places that generated that growth, whilst managing volatile receipts both for local areas and the Exchequer. At present it is unclear if this means more fiscal devolution for Northern Ireland. The Chancellor’s next big choice centred on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and set out details of what the Government’s overall strategy is which comprises the following four key strands and a range of actions tied to each: to build sufficient ‘compute’ to protect the UK’s interests and avoid excessive dependencies on others. This essentially means, for example, having sufficient data centre capacity to protect sensitive data, ensure resilience from global shocks, and support domestic adoption,  to establish the UK’s foothold and compete fiercely in the areas where the UK has real strengths, such as AI applications, AI chip designs, and cyber security, to maximise the value added by AI to the wider economy and the public sector through accelerated adoption, and to equip working people with the tools they need to maximise the rewards and minimise the risks.      The Chancellor’s final economic choice centred on how, in this age of insecurity, the UK’s economic, political, and military strength rests on strategic alliances, and in particular, how the UK’s fate as a country is inescapably bound with that of Europe. The Government has therefore chosen to ‘look towards a new and stable, future relationship’ with the EU. Where it is in the national interest to align with EU regulation, the UK should be prepared to do so, including in further areas of the single market, whilst also recognising that there may still be areas in which regulatory autonomy may be necessary for sectors with unique characteristics or strategic importance for the UK.   

Revenue has issued new guidance on the tax relief available for relevant donations to National Governing Bodies (NGBs) which sets out the criteria on what qualifies as an NGB together with details of the relevant definitions under section 847AA TCA 1997. The guidance outlines how both self‑assessed and PAYE‑only individuals can claim the tax relief including details and related deadlines regarding a donor’s decision to instead surrender the tax relief to an NGB. The relevant documentation requirements of NGB’s are also outlined together with information on the circumstances when relief will not be available.

Last week saw Finance Bill 2025/26 receive Royal Assent on 18 March 2026 to become Finance Act 2026. The Act enacts major legislation across a wide range of areas, many of which will take effect from next month. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a look in Chartered Accountants Tax News at the key changes coming into operation next month as a result of the Act, when both the new Financial Year 2026 and tax year 2026/27 commence on 1 and 6 April 2026 respectively. In other legislative news, the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill is now awaiting Royal Assent. Under the Bill, from April 2029, a primary and secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) charge will be applied where employer pension contributions are made via salary sacrifice arrangements that exceed £2,000. The Bill will amend Section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and Section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, so that amounts of salary sacrificed for employer pensions contributions pursuant to optional remuneration arrangements are liable to Class 1 NICs. The Government has also published amendments to PAYE Regulations which provide for mandatory payrolling of employee benefits in kind, rather than annually through form P11D. The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 will enter into force from April 1, 2026. However, the changes regarding the mandatory requirement regarding "payrolling" benefits in kind will not apply until 6 April 2027 onwards. The Regulations also remove the requirement for employers who have ceased trading to submit form P11D digitally. Instead, these employers can now choose whether to submit the return electronically or in paper form.

The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Niall Cody, recently signed Statutory Instrument No. 85 of 2026, replacing the Taxes (Offset of Repayments) Regulations 2002. The replaced Regulations came into effect from 3 March 2026 and are made under section 960H(5) TCA 1997, which empowers Revenue to offset repayments due to a person against their outstanding liabilities. The new regulations remove or replace obsolete references, establish the order of priority of offset against liabilities, and provide for offset of several tax heads that have been legislated for since the 2002 Regulations were introduced.

Revenue has updated its guidelines for agents and customers regarding the agent e-linking process incorporating several revised screenshots and additional explanatory material. The update also includes links to further detailed guidance and how‑to videos on approving agent link requests. The following are the relevant revised screenshots: Figure 2, ‘Manage Tax Registrations screen in ROS’. Figure 13, ‘Client Link Requests dashboard screen – Pending Link’. Figure 16, ‘Client Link Requests dashboard - Approved Link’. Figure 17, ‘Date Completed view’. In addition, paragraph 2.1.1.2 describes the agent view when an agent link request has been approved, and paragraph 2.1.5 explains how agents or advisors can link to a deceased customer who was registered for ROS or myAccount.

In this week’s detailed miscellaneous updates which you can read more about below, an additional step may now be required when enrolling VAT into a taxpayer’s Business Tax Account and HMRC is making some changes to employer statements and end of tax year adjustments. HMRC has also recently launched its new tax education campaign, ‘Tax Confident’. In other news this week: HMRC is asking employers to encourage employees to check the HMRC App and claim any refunds they are owed as HMRC no longer issues tax refunds automatically by cheque for most PAYE taxpayers, The recording of a recent Institute for Government webinar ‘Can Rachel Reeves protect both households and the public finances from the energy price shock?’ is now available to view, The House of Commons Library has updated its research briefing exploring the nature of the high income child benefit charge and the debate around its design, HMRC is aware of an issue affecting the transition of agents to the new Country by Country reporting agent handshake service for a small number of taxpayers. HMRC apologises for any inconvenience this may cause and is looking into the issue, and The Treasury Committee has opened a call for evidence into student loans and the taxation of graduates. Evidence must be submitted by 14 April 2026. Additional step to enrol VAT in Business Tax accounts In recent months taxpayers may need to provide their application reference number from their VAT registration application when enrolling VAT into their Business Tax Account. Taxpayers are provided with this when the registration is submitted. This is sent to the email address used during registration and also appears on VAT registration approval letters. Changes to employer statement and end of year tax adjustments. HMRC has made the following change recently which affects employers. Credit allocations Concerns have been expressed by employers that although ‘annual’ and ‘monthly’ statements show which credits have been allocated to that month, it is not always easy to see where all credits from that month have come from or gone to. This is especially true if in-year revised Full Payment Submissions result in minus figures. HMRC’s new credit allocation page now shows the month the credit arose and where it has been allocated to. End of tax year adjustments Only a small proportion of employers need to make these. HMRC previously showed a total for any end of tax year adjustments which also included interest. HMRC has worked with stakeholders who have advised that this figure could in fact be a combination of multiple end of tax year adjustments, including multiple separate interest charges, which makes it difficult to reconcile records. HMRC intends to add a hyperlink onto the end of tax year adjustments label on the ‘annual statement’ page. This will link to a breakdown page. If only one adjustment has been received it will look very simple and easy to understand, but it will show the interest as a separate figure. If there are multiple adjustments then the page will look different. HMRC will show a summary total together with a separate breakdown of each adjustment. This will be in a tabbed format. HMRC has user tested this with numerous users, both agents and employers, who all agreed that this method was the best and simplest to understand. Tax confident campaign launch Tax Confident is HMRC’s new campaign designed to help people build the basic tax knowledge they need to feel informed, capable, and in control. Many people feel overwhelmed and anxious when dealing with tax because they lack basic knowledge about what tax is and how the system works. This campaign aims to transform that anxiety into confidence by providing clear, simple, and engaging resources that help people understand the basics before they need to engage with more detailed guidance.   As part of the launch, HMRC has asked us to share the resources included in its stakeholder toolkit. In the toolkit you’ll find ready to use: Website copy,  Social media posts, and  A newsletter.

The deadline for employers and trustees operating share schemes to file the 2025 annual share‑related returns is 31 March 2026. The relevant forms are now available on Revenue’s share reporting obligations webpage together with related tips and recommendations. Our news item from 2 March 2025 includes further information on the forms and filing obligations.

In December, we updated readers on our submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (“Joint Committee”) in relation to the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Revised General Scheme of the Finance (Tax Appeals and Fiscal Responsibility) Bill 2025. Last week, we received an invitation from the Joint Committee to attend a sitting of that committee at the Oireachtas this Wednesday 25 March 2026 at 6.30pm. The session will be held in Committee Room 3 and will be broadcast on www.oireachtas.ie. The Revised General Scheme includes proposals to substantially amend the procedures of the Tax Appeals Commission, particularly by shifting the discretion on private hearings from the taxpayer to the Appeals Commissioner. The amendments are being proposed following advice from the Attorney General. While that advice is not available publicly, it is understood, based on earlier sessions of the Joint Committee, that the Attorney General’s view is supported by his interpretation of the decision in Zalewski v Workplace Relations Commission [2022] 1 IR 421 (“Zalewski”). Zalewski is a Supreme Court decision that examined the administration of justice in the context of the Workplace Relations Commission. In our submission, we set out our position that the nature of appeals taken to the Tax Appeals Commission are substantially different in depth and sensitivity to those taken to the Workplace Relations Commission. We have also expressed our concerns that removing the opportunity to have an appeal heard privately will effectively create a barrier to justice for a great many taxpayers. We will have a full update on Wednesday’s session in next week’s Tax Newsletter. We note for completeness that the Institute is being represented by members of the Institute’s Tax Policy and Administration Committee.