Contacting Revenue
All Revenue’s telephone helplines will be closed for the period the measures are in place, with the exception of the National Employer Helpline (01 7383638) which will continue to support employers with queries on the COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, and the ROS Technical Helpdesk (01 7383699). Enquiries and correspondence on any matter can be sent through My Enquiries on ROS.
General advice
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Revenue is permitted to 'warehouse' VAT and payroll tax debt that has arisen as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Revenue is prioritising issuing of refunds, in particular VAT and PSWT (Professional Services Witholding Tax).
Companies should check any direct debits in place with Revenue (e.g. VAT, payroll taxes, income tax, phased payment arrangements) and whether these should be altered/suspended/cancelled.
For PSWT refunds the claim and copies of the F45 certs may be submitted via My Enquiries (if F45 cert cannot be issued due to COVID-19 circumstances a written statement from the Government body/entity to the taxpayer should suffice).
R&D tax credit refunds will be processed early where corporation tax returns are filed.
Current tax clearance status will remain in place for all businesses over the coming months.
Interest on late payments is suspended for February, March and April payroll taxes, and for January/February and March/April VAT.
For businesses having difficulty paying their current taxes Revenue is generally agreeing to a one month deferral, at which point a payment proposal should be made to Revenue. Such applications are to be reviewed by Revenue on a case-by-case basis.
SMEs
Businesses experiencing temporary cash flow difficulties should continue to send in tax returns on time.
The application of interest on late payments is suspended for January/February VAT and both February and March PAYE (Employers) liabilities.
All debt enforcement activity is suspended until further notice.
Current tax clearance status will remain in place for all businesses over the coming months.
Subcontractors
The RCT (Relevant Contract Tax) rate review scheduled to take place in March 2020 has been suspended. This process assesses the current compliance position of each subcontractor in the eRCT system and determines their correct RCT deduction rate, i.e. 0%, 20% or 35%. As this process may result in a subcontractor’s RCT rate increasing due to changes in their compliance position, the review is suspended.
Subcontractors and agents are reminded that RCT rate reviews can be self-managed in ROS. Subcontractors can check if their rate should be lower and can then ‘self-review’ to get that lower deduction rate.
Importing goods
Critical pharmaceutical products and medicines will be given a customs ‘green routing’ to facilitate uninterrupted importation and supply.