Notifications to policy holders continue to issue from the insurance companies.

The Institute is receiving queries from members regarding the appropriate way of handling the declaration forms – “I do not have an outstanding tax liability”, so it may be useful to summarise our information to date on this important topic.

• Revenue expect a Declaration form to be completed in respect of each policy, not in respect of each taxpayer.
• The Declaration “I do not have an outstanding tax liability” is apparently intended to be confined to taxable periods ending on 31 December 2003.
• Use of the Declaration form is not mandatory; it is not a statutory form, and accountants are free to write in on their own terms without using the Declaration form.
• While it is intended that the Declaration form is to be used by Revenue in determining which cases will be further pursued, completion of the Declaration form does not guarantee that the case will not be further pursued.

We have been advised by Revenue that:

• Where taxpayers come forward in the context of the SPIP investigation to disclose funds otherwise undeclared which had been invested in SPIPs along with any other tax default, and
• Such disclosure is made before 31 October 2006,

Then:

• Revenue will not pursue the case with a view to prosecution.
• The “co-operation” mitigation of penalties of 25% will be available.

ICAI is making arrangements to continue discussions with Revenue in the coming weeks, to ensure we can all arrive at practical approaches to handling this large-scale and important investigation.