24 October 2020

The following is a summary of the main supports available during the Level 5 restrictions of 22 October – 2 December 2020 :

Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS): To enter this scheme you need to project that your turnover for the period July – December 2020 will be down at least 30% on the same period in 2019. For the Level 5 restrictions, the subsidy will be paid weekly rather than monthly, and the rates of payment have increased. The EWSS is expected to be extended past its current end date of 31st March 2021.

Restart Grant Plus: To be eligible for this grant, you need to have demonstrated that your turnover for the period April – June 2020 is down at least 25% on the same period the previous year. The closing date for applications is 31st October 2020. If you have already received Restart Grant payments, you should not reapply for Restart Grant Plus.

Enterprise Support Grant: If you are not a commercial rates payer you may be entitled to up to €1,000 to restart your business. Further information is available here.

Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS): To be eligible for this scheme, your turnover for the period of restrictions must be no more than 25% of the turnover for a period equal to the same number of weeks in 2019 (or using 2020 turnover for a new business). Registration is expected in the coming weeks, with claims process commencing mid-November. The scheme will run from 13 October 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The relief will operate as a cash payment equal to 10% of the average weekly value of the 2019 business’s turnover up to €20,000 and 5% thereafter, subject to a maximum weekly payment of €5,000, for the same number of weeks as the restricted period (Levels 3, 4 and 5).

Other Industry Specific Grants: The RTE website maintains a list of supports available which can be accessed here.

Income Tax Non-Covid Debts: If you underpaid preliminary tax for 2019, this is regarded as a non-Covid debt which will qualify for the reduced rate of interest of 3% under instalment. Your return must be filed by 31st October to avoid a late filing surcharge, however you can apply for the reduced rate instalment arrangement up to 10th December.

Income Tax Covid Debts: If you are unable to pay the balance of your income tax liability after preliminary tax, this is considered to be Covid related debt so it may be warehoused for up to 12 months. Your return must be filed by 31st October to avoid a late filing surcharge as your liability is not being paid in full at the filing date.

13 October 2020

Last Updated: 13 October 2020

Please note that implementation dates for announced changes have been indicated below where available. Not all changes take immediate effect.

We will endeavour to update this with any major changes or annoucements as we digest the budget this year.

Personal Taxation (from 1st January 2021)
• Dependent relative tax credit increased from €70 to €245

• USC 2% threshold adjusted for minimum wage increase (€10.20 instead of €10.10 from 1st January 2021).

• PRSI threshold has also been adjusted in respect of the minimum wage increase, from €10.10 to €10.20. (from 1st January 2021)

• No other changes to Income Tax, USC and PRSI rates with the exception of the above two changes.

Covid
• Commercial Rates for 2019 are waived for the rest of 2020.

For businesses there is a new Covid Restrictions Support Scheme, where grants will be paid to those affected by restrictions imposed from Levels 3 – 5 of the Living with Covid strategy. We wait more details on this but would need to be either closed or severely affected by Covid19 restrictions.

• Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) expected to be extended past March 2021.

Business Taxation & Regulation
• Earned income tax credit increased by €150 to now equal the Employee Tax Credit of €1,650

Relevant Contracts Tax and Construction Industry
• No changes noted

Indirect Taxes
• Temporary reduction in VAT rate for Tourism and Hospitality items from 13.5% to 9% until December 2021

• Increase in farms flat rate addition from 5.4% to 5.6%

Stamp duty
• Consanguinity relief extended until December 2023

Carbon Tax
• Increase in rate by €7.50 to €33.50 per tonne. Household fuels will not be affected until next May. But cost of fuel from Midnight 13th October 2020 will be in effect 2.5 cent per litre on petrol and diesel from midnight tonight.

Capital Taxes
• No changes noted

(Local) Property Tax (LPT)
• No changes noted

Miscellaneous Provisions & Announcements
• 50c on pack of 20 cigarettes.

• Illness benefit will now be paid after 3 days instead of 6 days.

• Christmas bonus to be paid to those in receipt of Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) for more than 4 months

• Self employed can earn up to €480 per month without losing their PUP payment.

• Illness benefit will now be available after three days out of work instead of the current six days.

• VRT to change based on emissions

• Motor Tax band from 1st January 2021 to change to a 3rd band to be inline with emissions testing. Also noted in the speech was the changes to the cars taxed under the CO2 emissions to create a level playing field.

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.

Last Updated: 21st May 2020

Revenue have suspended debt collection (i.e. enforcement) of the following tax payments in 2020:

1) VAT’s for: January/February, March/April and May/June 2020
2) Payroll Tax returns: February through to June P30 Liabilities

In addition Revenue will warehouse the debt for a period of 12 months, being the above debt and any future debt while the business was unable to trade or was trading at a significantly reduced level, plus an additional two months of tax debt to allow the business get back some positive cash flow.

While we await the legislation to be published, “trading at a significantly reduced level” is likely to mean sales activity to be down by at least 15% – 25%.

Covid-19 tax debts will be ‘warehoused’ for a period of 12 months interest free, and if an additional instalment repayment agreement is required after this period has elapsed, interest will be charged at the lower rate of 3%.

Tax clearance will not be affected.

We will update this note when we have legalisation clarifying the matter.