TaxSource Total

Here you can access relevant source documents which support the summaries of key tax developments in Ireland, the UK and internationally

Source documents include:

  • Chartered Accountants Ireland’s representations and submissions
  • published documents by the Irish Revenue, UK HMRC, EU Commission and OECD
  • other government documents

The source documents are displayed per year, per month, by jurisdiction and by title

Special ICAI Tax 16 July 2008

The ICAI is a member of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies Ireland (CCAB-I). Through our work with CCAB-I, we meet with Revenue regularly under the auspices of the TALC forum and make representations on behalf of our members on administrative matters to Revenue. A number of issues have arisen at TALC which we want to inform you of and ask for your input. Please send your comments to us in the ICAI Tax Department – Norah Collender, Mary O'Brien, or Brian Keegan.

Offset of Case V losses between Spouses

It is generally understood among accountants that Revenue have by concession allowed for the offset of a rental loss for one spouse against the rental income of another spouse under joint assessment. Revenue is of the view that such a concession has not been allowed by its Districts in recent years and therefore this concession is no longer valid. If you have received any form of agreement from Revenue in recent years on the offset of Case V losses between jointly assessed spouses, please let us know. We believe that the concessional treatment should remain in place and would be interested in your views on the matter.

CGT Clearance Certificates

A CG50 clearance is required on the disposal of certain assets with proceeds in excess of €500,000 in order to avoid the application of 15% withholding tax. The assets requiring CG50 clearance include:

  1. land in the State, (this includes buildings and any interest in land such as a lease)
  2. mineral assets in the State
  3. exploration or exploitation rights in a designated area
  4. unquoted shares deriving their value from the assets in (a), (b) or (c)
  5. unquoted shares received in exchange for such shares where the exchange qualified for relief under Sec. 584 TCA 1997
  6. the goodwill of a business carried on in the State and
  7. certain transactions which do not involve the purchaser acquiring an asset, e.g. redemption of loan notes, distributions by a liquidator to a shareholder.

In general the CG50 clearance procedure requires the submission of a contract and details of when and for how much the asset was originally purchased. Many transactions subject to CG50 clearance do not involve the exchange of contracts such as the redemption of loan notes and distributions by a liquidator to a shareholder.

We would like to highlight the practical difficulties encountered by our members such as making a CG50 application where no contract is required and would welcome your views on how the process of securing CG50 clearance could be made easier.

Relevant legislation on TaxSource is at http://taxsource1.icai.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0039/sec0980.html.

ROS & CAT

The Institute is in discussion with Revenue on a range of CAT topics. We would welcome your views on some specific items currently on the TALC agenda. In particular the use of ROS for CAT return filing has had a relatively low uptake. A number of practical difficulties arise on filing CAT returns on line. For example the Form C-24 clearance certificates cannot be filed on line. Revenue is aware of such constraints on the use of ROS and has undertaken to review CAT in the context of ROS and any other CAT administrative issues.

Can you let us have an outline of your experiences and problems in dealing with Revenue on CAT issues so that we can ensure that the accountant's perspective on CAT administration in Revenue is fairly represented?

The full consolidated CAT legislation is on TaxSource at http://taxsource1.icai.ie/2003/en/act/pub/0001/CATCA03.html.

Farmers Tax Issues

We would like to address any administrative or operational problems our members face in their dealings with Revenue on taxation matter relating to farmers. Please let us have an outline of any difficulties you may have encountered on farmers taxation issues and we will ensure that such difficulties are made known to Revenue.

Relevant legislation on TaxSource is at http://taxsource1.icai.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0039/sec0654.html.

Operation of VAT Reverse Charge in Construction Industry

As outlined in eNews, it is estimated that one third of the VAT base in Ireland will be effected by the new reverse charge rules to be introduced from 1 September 2008 for businesses operating in the construction industry (with the exception of hauliers). We anticipate that the new treatment will add a layer of complexity to the already tax compliance burdened construction industry. We are very interested in your views and feedback on this issue would be most welcome.

Mandatory E-Filing

Revenue have made it known that they wish to progress the introduction of mandatory e-filing and e-payment for corporates. The CCAB-I have made a submission to Revenue outlining our concerns on mandatory filing and detailed aspects of Revenue On Line Service which must be improved before mandatory e-filing and e-payments are introduced. We ask that you consider how the move towards mandatory efiling will affect you and your clients and let us have your views on the matter. We are particularly mindful of various service improvements which should be delivered by Revenue before mandatory efiling is introduced such as the timely availability of off-line corporate tax returns.

Relevant legislation on TaxSource is at http://taxsource1.icai.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0039/sec0917EA.html.