On 29 May 2023, Revenue confirmed that the facility to make claims under the extended Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS), in relation to periods from 1 May to 31 July 2023, is now open.

The TBESS claim portal can be accessed via the e-Repayments system in Revenue’s Online Service (ROS). Businesses who have already registered should update their reference period details in ROS e-Repayments for May – July 2022 in advance of submitting a claim for the period May – July 2023.

Claims for the May 2023 period can be made now. Claims for the June and July 2023 claim periods can be made as soon as energy bills covering these periods are available.

To make a claim for the May, June and July 2023 claim periods, a business will need to submit reference period details on ROS for May, June and July 2022.

Claims for all periods must be submitted no later than 30 September 2023.

Claims relating to the May – July 2023 will automatically be assessed based on the 30% energy cost threshold and the relief due will be calculated based on 50% of the eligible energy costs incurred by the business. A monthly cap of €15,000 per trade (subject to an overall monthly cap of €45,000) will also be automatically applied to these claims.

Eligible businesses that have not yet registered for the TBESS, or have not yet started or fully completed the claim process for any claim periods, are encouraged to do so now, given the claims deadline of 30 September 2023. Please do get in touch if we can be of assistance in this process.

Further a range of Revenue ‘How To’ videos can be viewed here.

Revenue eBrief No. 127/23 will also be of use to affected businesses.

Do I need to notify Revenue of a self-correction?

Revenue policy on “self-correction without penalty” is contained within Chapter 2 of the Code of Practice for Revenue Compliance Interventions (the “Code”). Section 2.2 introduces the policy as:

“In line with Revenue’s role in supporting voluntary compliance, taxpayers may avail of self-correction without penalty provided that the following conditions are met:

1. The taxpayer notifies Revenue, within the applicable time limit, (either in writing or in ROS) of the adjustments being made (Note: submitting an amended return on ROS does not constitute notification to Revenue – written notification is required),
2. The taxpayer provides a computation of the correct tax and statutory interest payable, and
3. Payment, in full, accompanies the submission.”

Exceptions to the requirement to notify ‘in writing or in ROS’

In relation to VAT, the Code currently gives a time limit for self-correction as “before the due date for filing the IT/CT return for the chargeable period within which the relevant VAT period ends”. It goes on to say:

Bi-monthly, quarterly or half-yearly remitters of VAT, who are self-correcting a net underpayment of less than €6,000 may include the amount of tax as an adjustment on the next corresponding VAT return following the one in which the error was made. In such cases, there is no requirement to notify Revenue and interest is not charged.

PAYE

In September 2022, Revenue issued the Tax and Duty Manual (TDM) for Revenue Compliance Interventions – Operation of Payroll Taxes (Income Tax, PRSI, USC) by Employers. This guidance deals with cases where it is determined that the updating of an employee’s payroll record is required due to the incorrect operation of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system by an employer as a result of error or carelessness.

This TDM applies to any self-correction or qualifying disclosure received and/or Revenue compliance intervention initiated following the publication of the TDM. This TDM states that for current year cases, employers are permitted to treat untaxed emoluments (arising from incorrect operation) as being paid at the time they are identified, using the latest Revenue Payroll Notification available to calculate the correct liability in accordance with Regulation 11.

In such cases, the liability due will be corrected through the next payroll submission (within the current tax year) rather than over multiple submissions. In these types of cases, where any additional emoluments are treated as paid at the next pay date, no interest arises. In such cases, there is no longer a requirement to also notify Revenue in writing of the correction being made.

Other tax heads

For all other tax heads (other than those outlined above), taxpayers must continue to notify Revenue in writing or through ROS to avail of “self-correction” without penalty. This is necessary to ensure such amounts including statutory interest are brought to account correctly.

Revenue have informed Chartered Accountants Ireland of a policy update and we understand that they are working to remove the notification requirement for all tax heads. We expect the Code to be updated shortly.

Read more: What is a SAYE scheme?