Revenue has asked Chartered Accountants Ireland to share key points for accountants to consider to prevent and eliminate data breaches in their dealings on behalf of clients with Revenue.

Revenue recommend the following:

• Ensure bank details are correct when setting up a Direct Debit for a client. Instances have occurred where Direct Debit for one client has been set up using another client’s bank details.
• Ensure when emailing information to a client, that the correct client email address is held. Instances have occurred when forwarding correspondence to a client where another party received the email in error.
• Be aware that agent registration is tax-head specific, therefore only client information in relation to that tax-head can be provided to that agent. Information provided to a non-registered agent constitutes a data breach and should not be requested.
• Ensure that the client’s records are updated where the client deregisters you as agent. Revenue acknowledges that there may be instances where clients have moved to a new agent and have not notified the current agent. However, where the deregistration has taken place online the original agent does receive a notification letter from Revenue to this effect.