We reported in Chartered Accountants Tax News in December last that Revenue are implementing a number of developments to the ROS Return of Trader Details (RTD) Form and filing procedures over three Stages. It seems that Stage 2 of the development process has now been implemented. The RTD Form is a statistical exercise and adds to the compliance burden, with little or no business benefit for taxpayers.

Stage 1 commenced in September with VAT registered traders reminded to submit outstanding VAT RTD Forms and continued in November with a new ROS RTD format. Stage 2 of the development includes the following measures:

1. Repayment/refund of credit under any tax-head will be withheld where there is an outstanding VAT RTD for the previous year. This is a bit heavy handed given that the RTD is merely a statistical exercise, and the actual compliance with VAT is done through the VAT3 and payment process.
2. The outstanding VAT RTD and any other outstanding returns will be notified in a ‘Notice of Returns Outstanding’ letter issued by Collector-General;
3. The repayment/refund will issue upon receipt of the outstanding VAT RTD and any other outstanding returns

Stage 3 of the improvements to the VAT RTD filing and compliance support process is expected to be introduced in 2015.

Further details on the developments to the VAT ROS RTD process are set out in Revenue eBrief No. 51/14 which is published on here.