Government measures in key jurisdictions 4th edition - Flipbook - Page 64
Ireland
Irish Revenue have introduced temporary income tax relief for self-employed individuals including
claims to have their 2020 losses and certain unused capital allowances carried back and deducted from
their profits for the year of assessment 2019, subject to a €25,000 limit. There is also an acceleration of
the relief allowing self-employed individuals to make interim claims based on the estimated amount of
relief available to them.
• The standard VAT rate in Ireland will be reduced from 23% to 21% from 1 September 2020 with the
rate reverting back to 23% from 1 March 2021.
• 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. The
legislation enacting this measure is now in place.
• 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. See more information here.
• Corporation tax returns for accounting period ending 30 June 2019 onwards (i.e. due by 23 March 2020
onwards) will not be subject to a late filing surcharge until further notice and late filing due to Covid-19
will not result in the usual restriction of reliefs, such as loss and group relief. In addition, various other
tax filing deadlines have been extended, in particular in respect of employer returns regarding
certain benefits supplied to employees (such as employee share schemes).
• Irish Revenue have introduced a temporary acceleration of corporation tax loss relief for accounting
periods affected by Covid-19. It allows companies to estimate their trading losses for certain
accounting periods and to carry back up to 50% of those losses against chargeable profits of the
preceding accounting period on an accelerated basis.
• Close companies with accounting periods ending from 30 September 2018 onwards are required to
make distributions by 31 March 2020 onwards to avoid a close company surcharge. These companies
can apply to extend the 18-month distribution period by 9 months where the company is affected by
Covid-19 and needs to retain cash to support the business.
• The reporting deadline for DAC2, CRS and FATCA returns has been extended by 3 months to 30
September 2020 for the 2019 period.
• Irish Revenue have confirmed that Ireland has opted-in to Council Directive 2020/876 to defer
the reporting and exchange of information deadlines under DAC6 by 6 months.
• A benefit-in-kind will not arise for employees where employers:
– provide employees with equipment to allow them to work remotely,
– reimburse flight or holiday cancellations for employees integral to the business, or
– supply temporary accommodation to employees to mitigate the risk of transmission.
• Due to COVID-19 circumstances, some private healthcare providers may issue a refund
of healthcare insurance premiums to an employer/employee and individual policy
holders who have personally paid for the policy. The amount taxed as a benefit-in-kind
will be reduced to reflect the reduced policy amount.
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Government measures in key jurisdictions
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