In eBrief No. 41/2008, Revenue have advised on the completion of Form RCT1 where there is an ongoing relationship between the parties.

In general, where there is an ongoing contractual relationship (also known as a rolling contract) between the parties a single Form RCT1 will normally suffice. According to the eBrief, this includes

• situations where the jobs do not succeed each other immediately;
• an ongoing contract can also cover work to be carried out on a number of sites provided the parties to the contract do not change.

The eBrief advises that a new Form RCT1 must be completed if any of the following apply:

• The subcontractor has to compete (e.g. tender) for new work;
• The contractual relationship between the parties has changed, e.g. the principal sets up a new entity (e.g. a limited company) for each site;
• The contractual terms have changed significantly e.g. the payment arrangements have changed from fixed price to piece work;
• No payments were made in the preceding year to the subcontractor (generally speaking this can be taken as being that there is no record of the subcontractor in the Form RCT 35 submitted by the principal contractor to Revenue for the previous year).

It should be noted that eBrief No. 41/2008, which is reproduced at Section 2.04, supersedes the article titled ‘Relevant Contracts Tax: Forms RCT1 – Requirements’ in Tax Briefing 26.

The eBrief also advises on the correct RCT1 to have on file in relation to ongoing contracts:

• the old version of the Form RCT 1 should have been completed and retained for contracts entered into prior to 1 April 2008.
• Revenue recommend that the new version of Form RCT 1 should be completed now, where it is discovered that the old version of the form had never been completed.