You can access the key dates list at any time from the Business Centre.

We are currently completing work on personal income tax returns for the tax year 2011.

We also welcome new clients until 31st October 2012. After this date, we do not feel sufficient time will be available to complete a full review of your tax affairs and prepare an accurate return on your behalf. To avail of this offer and for more details, please contact us on 044 93 76 668 or use our contact form.

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Please find below a list of the most relevant employment schemes and employment tax schemes. For further details please click on the scheme title, which will direct you to www.citizensinformation.ie or the government body responsible for the scheme, in order to ensure you are reading the most current regulations pertaining to each scheme.

Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (Self-Employed)
The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme encourages people getting certain social welfare payments to become self-employed.

Employee Retention Scheme
The purpose of this scheme is to encourage employers to keep on employees who get sick or injured which may impact on their ability to carry out their normal duties.

Community Employment Scheme
Designed to help people who are long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged people to get back to work by offering part-time and temporary placements in jobs based within local communities.

Revenue Job Assist
An additional tax allowance for people in Ireland who have been unemployed for 12 months or more and who are now returning to employment. The employer also gets a double deduction for corporation tax/income tax on the employment cost of the relevant person.

Employer Job (PRSI) Exemption Scheme
Exempts the employer from paying employers’ PRSI for 12 months on new jobs where the employee has been on a FAS programme for 3 months or on social welfare for 6 months.

FAS Work Placement Scheme
Allows an employer take on a participant on work placement for a maximum of nine months, while the participant retains their social welfare entitlements.

Job Bridge
Allows an employer take on an intern on work placement for a period of 6 – 9 months, while the participant retains their social welfare entitlements. Participant is also paid a weekly allowance of €50 by Social Welfare.

Pathways To Work
The strategy document of the government for a new approach to getting unemployed persons back to the work force, as part of the National Employment and Entitlements Service.

The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009 introduced a €200 annual charge on non principal private residences, payable by the owners to the local authority in whose area the property concerned is located. Liability for 2012 is assessed on the owner at 31st March 2012 (‘liability date’), with the due date of payment being 30th June.

There is no escape from the property tax:
• Revenue have access to ESB records and the Private Residential Tenancies Board records to compile a list of landlords assessable
•There is a fine for late payment of the tax – the charge increases by €20 monthly if not paid by 30th June. Unpaid 2009 charges have been accumulating at €20 monthly since 1st November 2009. In the event that you wish to sell your house at a later date, the purchaser will become liable to any outstanding levies on the house, and therefore may cause difficulties at this stage.

Payment can be made online or by cheque/draft/postal order.

To pay online click here

To download paper copy form (new customers) click here

To download paper copy form (renewals only) click here

For further information see the FAQ page here or feel free to give us a call.

Revenue have been involved in an exchange of information exercise with the Department of Social Protection, which this week resulted in Revenue stating that 115,000 pensioners will pay extra tax in 2012. It is important to note that no change in tax law has occurred as a result of this initiative, rather due to technological advances the Revenue Commissioners are able to integrate information received from the Department of Social Protection into tax credit certificates from 2012.

It is important to distinguish between the self-assessed and the PAYE worker in this scenario.

Self-Assessed persons are obliged to complete an income tax return annually as they have significant non-PAYE income, e.g. trade or rental income. On an income tax return you are obliged to complete and have assessed all your income sources, not just your self-employed income. Therefore, you should be recording all your pension income on the form to ensure it is being taxed correctly.

PAYE Workers are not obliged to complete an income tax return each year as their income tax is deducted at source. For occupational pensions, the administrators of the fund are obliged to operate any pension payments through the payroll. However, in a lot of cases they would be issued with a tax deduction certificate for the recipient stating income up to €18,000 is tax exempt in 2011/2012 for a single individual, and up to €36,000 for a married couple.

Comparing this to the state pensions (Contributory Pension, Transitional Pension, Widows Pension, Invalidity Pension), these are liable to tax in the same way as occupational pensions, but due to the easing of the administrative burden, tax was never deducted at source on these pensions. An administrative burden would arise as the vast majority of such recipients would be under the threshold to be tax exempt, and therefore large refunds would be issued at the end of the tax year to repay the recipient for tax deducted at source. Such a position relies on the taxpayer being aware of whether their have any tax liability on their total income, and the need to inform the Revenue Commissioners of the amount of their state pension. The complexity of the tax system means that professional advice is often needed, not something which is often available to PAYE workers.

In order to ensure that the state pensions are appropriately taxed, the occupational pension administrators are advised of how much they must reduce the tax exempt limit of the recipient. Previously this was not done automatically by Revenue, which resulted in underpayments by certain tax payers. This is corrected for the tax year 2012 onwards, but arrears may be due for previous years in some cases.

Should you have any queries on this do not hesitate to contact us.

We wish to remind you of the VAT rate change which is to be applied from 1st January 2012.

Budget 2012 increased the standard rate of VAT to 23% from January 2012. This increase applies to all goods and services liable to the standard rate including alcohol and non-alcoholic minerals, transport fuels, vehicles, consumer goods, hiring/leasing, confectionery as well as many services.

All VAT registered businesses should ensure that from 1 January 2012 all sales at the standard rate are charged to VAT at 23%. If you have a computerised sales system you may need to contact your IT support if you do not know how to amend the system. If you do not amend the VAT charged on your sales from 1 January 2012, the Revenue Commissioners are entitled to hold you liable to account for the additional VAT which should have been collected.

For ongoing contracts, the date of the invoice is the determinant of the VAT rate to be charged, where all invoices from 1 January 2012 should be charged at 23%. For further information for specific invoicing arrangements please see the Revenue website.

Please feel free to contact us with any queries you may have on this.

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Budget 2012

The offices of Royal Canal Financial Control Services and Ronan Duffy and Co. will be closed from 3pm on Friday 23rd December for the Christmas break and will re-open at 9am on Tuesday 3rd January.

During this period essential payroll services will be continued and urgent queries along with scheduled meetings will be attended to. If you wish to contact us during this time please ring the office on 044 9374 915 or text one of the directors.

Personal Taxation
• No changes in Income Tax rates, bands or credits.
• Universal social charge exemption increased from €4,004 to €10,036, and the move to a cumulative system will allow adjustments for under/over payments during the year.

Business Taxation
• Corporation tax exemption for new companies extended to 2014
• Employer’s relief from PRSI on pension contributions made by employees reduced to Nil from 1 January 2012 (currently 50% relief applies)
• No change in the Corporation Tax rate

Relevant Contracts Tax
• No changes to note

Indirect Taxes
• Standard VAT rate increased from 21% to 23% from 1 January 2012, in his speech Mr Noonan, said that this was the front loading of the increases in VAT from the EU/IMF deal and said that there will be no more increases in VAT in the life time of this government.
• Open farms can avail of tourism rate of 9% from 1 January 2012
• Increase in excise duty on cigarettes by 25c; no increase in alcohol excise duty, however legislation due on low cost selling

• Motor tax increases – average increase of 7.5% for cars taxed by engine capacity. But increases of over 50% for those taxed under the CO2 model (e.g. Class A increase of €56 to €160). This adjustment is required to reflect the increase in cars eligible for the lower CO2 model rates (17.69% of cars taxed in 2011 to date qualify, but they only account for 9.46% of the total motor tax income).

Stamp duty
• Abolition of multiple rates for non-residential stamp duty. For such instruments executed after 6 December 2011 a rate of 2% will apply.

Carbon Tax
• Increase of €5 to €20 per tonne on fossil fuels.

This equates to 1.4 cent per litre on petrol, and 1.6 cent per litre on diesel, this will take effect from midnight of the budget.

For a typical domestic oil fill of 1,000 litres of kerosene, the cost has increased by €14.40, and for natural gas €14.46 per kilowatt hour. Carbon tax increases on heating fuel will only take effect from 1st May 2012.

Capital Taxes from 6 December 2011 (midnight)
• Rate of capital acquisitions tax increased from 25% to 30%. Group A threshold to be reduced to €250,000.
• Rate of capital gains tax increased from 25% to 30%.
• New capital gains tax exemption for properties bought until the end of 2013, once property is held for at least seven years.

Miscellaneous Provisions & Announcements
• For items of public expenditure including health and social welfare, please see our Budget 2012 – Public Expenditure Measures page.
• Removal of the 36 day tax exemption for illness benefit.
• Mortgage interest relief to increase to 30% for first time buyers who bought at the height of the boom in the the period 2004 – 2008. A 25% rate applies for first time buyers in 2012, with a 15% rate for non-first-time buyers
• Household charge of €100 to be introduced in 2012, pending the development of a full property tax from 2014. Waiver for those on mortgage supplement and unfinished estates.
• DIRT rate increase by 3% for interest received on or after 1 January 2012

Summary Statistics

…

Whilst every care has been taken in the production of this budget summary, neither Royal Canal Financial Control Services nor Ronan Duffy and Co. can be held responsible for any action taken or deferred, resulting from any errors contained therein. For a more comprehensive summary please refer to the government press release.

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Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, Brendan Howlin addressed the Dail today in relation to the expenditure budget for 2012.

The main points are as follows:

• Target deficit of 8.6% of GDP in 2012
• Public service pay bill to fall by €400m in 2012, with a 12% staff reduction
• No reduction in weekly rates of social welfare payments
• Basic child allowance rate to be maintained. Over the next two years however, they will standardise the rate payable per child, by reducing the allowance for additional children.
• Fuel allowance period to be reduced from 32 to 26 weeks.
• Employer’s redundancy rebate to be decreased by 60% to 15%
• Increase in the monthly threshold under the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) from €120 to €132
• Increase in €250 of the student contribution to third level fees
• Job seeker benefit to be assessed on a 5 day week were recepient is a part-time worker (currently based on 6 day week)

Budget 2012 continues with Minister Michael Noonan’s speech tomorrow at 3pm.

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Decision ECB/2010/14 requires retailers that fill ATMs to be responsible for the authenticity and fitness of the bank notes for circularisation. In order to comply with the legislation, retailers must operate a bank note handling machine which:

• Physically separates suspect bank notes from genuine ones without user intervention.
• Does not require any user intervention in order to determine when a bank note is suspect or not.

We have recently been informed that there are a few difficulties with some aspects of the new machine counting function such as notes with curled edged not being recognised.

For further details on this topic and for advice on which type of machine you should be using, we advise that you contact your local bank branch.

Background information on the EU decision is available on its website here.