Government measures in key jurisdictions 2nd edition final pages - Flipbook - Page 53
Ireland
6
7
Litigation
•
The Courts Service has announced that measures are being put in place to extend
the range of business which can be conducted either remotely or in courtrooms
and that The High Court will sit during the up-coming Whit Vacation. Three courts
will be available for remote virtual hearings daily, seven other courts in the Four
Courts complex will be available for physical hearings daily. Until further notice it
will not be possible to hear cases which involve oral testimony. The list of matters to
be considered urgent has been expanded to include insolvency and commercial list
cases. Further details can be found here.
•
Irish Revenue have implemented a temporary wage subsidy scheme (“TWSS”) which
enables certain employers to retain certain staff while at the same time paying staff
nothing or a top-up on the Revenue subsidy paid by the Irish Revenue. The scheme is
expected to last 12 weeks from 26 March and from 4 May is based on each employee’s
normal net weekly pay. The wage subsidy is available to support employees where
their pre-COVID salary was greater than €76,000, and their post-COVID salary has
fallen below €76,000, subject to their net pay not exceeding €960 per week. As at
7th May 2020, there were over 52,600 employers registered for the TWSS and over
452,000 employees had received at least one payment under the TWSS. The majority
of employers registered for the scheme have less than 20 staff enrolled for TWSS and in
86% of cases employers are topping up the employees’ salary.
•
SMEs experiencing cash flow and/or trading difficulties can defer payment of March/
April and May/June VAT returns (due on 23 May and 23 July, respectively) and April,
May and June payroll taxes. Non-SMEs are being encouraged to talk to Revenue
with a view to similar deferments if experiencing similar cash flow issues. All debt
enforcement activity in respect of SMEs is suspended until further notice.
•
Irish Revenue will warehouse unpaid VAT and payroll taxes arising from the COVID-19
crisis. These tax debts will be parked for 12 months after a business resumes normal
trading. A lower interest rate of 3% (normally 10%) will apply on the repayment of such
debts after this period. The arrangements will ring-fence the debts for the period
during which the business is unable to trade or is trading at significantly reduced
levels and includes a 2 month period after the business returns to normal trading
levels. No interest or debt enforcement will occur with respect to the warehoused
debts. This measure will require new legislation before it can take effect.
•
Revenue has suspended tax audit and other compliance intervention activity on
taxpayers’ premises until further notice.
•
Revenue has indicated that it will continue to prioritise the approval and processing of
tax repayments and refunds to taxpayers.
•
For income tax purposes, an individual will not be regarded as resident in Ireland
where they spend additional days in Ireland due to the pandemic.
•
For corporation tax purposes, an individual will not be regarded as resident in or
outside of Ireland for a company of which they are an employee, director, service
provider or agent where they spend additional days in or outside of Ireland due to the
pandemic. For more information, see here.
Are the courts
operating?
Tax
Has any new
legislation been
introduced in light
of COVID-19?
Government measures in key jurisdictions
53