The Form P11D is a form that Revenue may issue to an employer requiring them to provide particulars of benefits received by all employees in receipt of emoluments (inclusive of benefits) of €1,905 or greater in a year of assessment.

Where a Form P11D is issued by Revenue to an employer, the employer has until the date specified by Revenue to complete and return the form to Revenue.

In practice, this is generally specified to be one month from the date of the issue of the form.

Particulars to be included on Form P11D

Section 897 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 requires full particulars of all pay and benefits to be included on the form P11D. In practice, Revenue does not require employers to include pay or benefits on the form that have already been subject to PAYE by the employer.

The following are some examples of benefits that are outside the scope of the PAYE system and therefore required to be included on a Form P11D:

• contributions by an employer to a PRSA,
• un-recouped notional pay arising as a result of section 985A where the employee left his or her employment prior to the date the notional pay was applied to the employee.

Details of share options and other forms of share-based renumeration provided to employees are not required to be included on the Form P11D. Such benefits are covered by separate reporting obligations. Information on reporting details relating to share schemes can be found in Chapter 13 of the Revenue Share Scheme Manual. This manual will be updated shortly to incorporate the new share return, Employer’s Share Awards (ESA).

The notes section on the final page of the Form P11D provides further guidance regarding benefits that are not required by Revenue to be returned on this form.

Penalties

Failure to deliver a Form P11D within the stated time limit can give rise to a penalty of €3,000. This penalty is increased to €4,000 if the form is still not submitted by the end of the tax year immediately following the year of assessment in which the form was issued.

If the employer is a body of persons (for example a company), a penalty of €1,000 may apply to the secretary of the body if the form is not delivered within the time limit. This penalty is increased to €2,000 if the return is still not submitted by the end of the tax year immediately following the year of assessment in which the form was issued.

Where the secretary acted fraudulently or negligently a penalty of between €1,500 and €3,000 may apply.

Tax law also provides for criminal sanctions for:

• the failure to complete the form
• the making of a false return or
• facilitating the making of a false return

In the event of a criminal prosecution, a person convicted on indictment of an offence may be liable to a fine not exceeding €126,970 and/or imprisonment.