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GDPR

Filed Under: Current News, Data, EU, GDPR, Legislation, Protection, Regulation by Cliff Kirker — Leave a comment
22 June, 2017

General Data Protection Regulations – what has this to do with you?? On 25th May 2018 the biggest change to data regulation in the EU comes into force. This affects you as an individual and also your business if you collect people’s names, addresses or other personal information. It will affect your golf club, your GAA club, your Resident’s Association and your walking group. Yes – it will affect you!GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from 25th May 2018 will replace current data protection laws in the European Union.

The new regulation will give individuals greater control over their data by setting out additional and more clearly defined rights for individuals whose personal data is collected and processed by organisations. The GDPR also imposes corresponding and greatly increased obligations on organisations that collect this data.

Personal data is any information that can identify an individual person. This includes a name, an ID number, location data (for example, location data collected by a mobile phone) or a postal address, online browsing history, images or anything relating to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of a person.

The GDPR is based on the core principles of data protection which exist under the current law. These principles require organisations and businesses to:
• collect no more data than is necessary from an individual for the purpose for which it will be used;
• obtain personal data fairly from the individual by giving them notice of the collection and its specific purpose;
• retain the data for no longer than is necessary for that specified purpose;
• to keep data safe and secure; and
• provide an individual with a copy of his or her personal data if they request it.

Under the GDPR individuals have the significantly strengthened rights to:
• obtain details about how their data is processed by an organisation or business;
• obtain copies of personal data that an organisation holds on them;
• have incorrect or incomplete data corrected;
• have their data erased by an organisation, where, for example, the organisation has no legitimate reason for retaining the data;
• obtain their data from an organisation and to have that data transmitted to another organisation (Data Portability);
• object to the processing of their data by an organisation in certain circumstances;
• not to be subject to (with some exceptions) automated decision making, including profiling.

The rules for dealing with subject access requests (i.e. a request for your personal information held by the business) will change under the GDPR. In most cases, companies will not be able to charge for processing an access request, unless the company can demonstrate that the cost will be excessive.

There are also special requirements for Processing Children’s Data.

This move is being overseen by the Data Protection Commissioner and more information can be obtained at http://gdprandyou.ie/.

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Non Principal Private Residence charge 2013

Filed Under: Current News, Deadline, Local Property Tax, NPPR, Rental Income by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
5 April, 2017

If you rented out property in the Republic of Ireland in 2013 then this applies to you.

A recent decision of the High Court on the deductibility against rental profits of the Non Principal Private Residence charge (NPPR) has been appealed by Revenue to the Court of Appeal. Until that appeal is decided Revenue is not in a position to amend assessments or process repayment claims based on the High Court judgement.

It is unlikely this appeal will be settled before 31st December 2017.  While there is a general right to repayment of tax provided for in Section 865 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 where a person has paid an amount of tax which is not due, that right is subject to a limit of four years from the end of the chargeable period to which the claim relates.

Revenue are providing the facility to register your right before 31st December 2017 to a repayment, in case it should be successful for the year 2013.  This will protect your right and will be actioned by Revenue if the appeal is not successful next year.

I am in the process of writing to all my clients who had rental income at that time.

If I do not get to you first, then please let me know the amount of NPPR you paid on your rental property in 2013 and I will register your claim.  The deadline for this claim is 31st December 2017 but please do not leave it until then!

If you have any questions about this then please contact me.

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P60

Filed Under: Allowances, Forms, Income Tax, P60, PPS, PRSI, USC by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
24 February, 2017

Now is the time you should be receiving a P60 from your employer or pension provider. They are required by Revenue to issue them between 1st January and the 15th February showing your income for 2016.

What information do they show: A P60 shows your name and Personal Public Service number (PPS), as well as your tax credits. Then the gross amount earned for the year together with the tax deducted by your employer and remitted to Revenue.

Your P60 will also show the amount of income for Universal Social Charge (USC) purposes, which is not always the same as the taxable gross income. For instance, if you received some Benefit in Kind it will be added into your USC gross income. The amount of USC deducted by your employer will also be shown.

Then there is the amount of Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) deducted as well. This is what your Contributory State Pension (formerly the Old Age Pension) will be based on in due course. It is important that these are recorded correctly by the Department of Social Protection. If you are in any doubt about the number of contributions that you have paid, or what type of deductions have been made for you, you can request a copy of the record of your contributions held by the Department of Social Protection by phoning the PRSI Records Customer Service Team at 1890 690 690.

What do you do with your P60?
This is the information you need to put into your Return of Income Tax for 2016. If you do not send in a return then there is no way for you to know if the correct amounts have been deducted from your salary. I am aware of one company with 3,500 employees, who did not update their employee tax credits when they received a batch of amendments from Revenue. The result was an incorrect amount of tax was deducted and had to be sorted out at the end of the year.

Do you need to send in a tax return?
If you have untaxed income of more than €3,147 then you are required to submit a tax return. If Revenue have written to you to say that you are required to submit a tax return then you should do so. You could also be due a refund e.g. for incorrect tax credits or correct tax credits applied incorrectly, or you may be due a credit against your tax e.g. for medical expenses, so it is a good idea to send in a tax return.

If you send your tax return in now, you will get your refund back immediately. If you owe tax, then you still have until 31st October 2017 to pay it and it is a good idea to know how much it is so you can budget for it.

If you have any problems with any of the above, or if you do not understand it, then you should contact Cliff Kirker.

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Conference Speaker

Filed Under: Capital Acquisitions Tax, CAT, Deadline, Gift, Inheritance, Last Will, Legislation, Payments, Tax - general, UK, Will by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
27 October, 2016

Cliff Kirker will be speaking on Capital Acquisitions Tax at the CPD Conference of the Association of International Accountants in the Camden Court Hotel on 6th December 2016.  Further details at AIA CPD Conference.

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Cut Off Points

Filed Under: Charities, Companies Act 2014, Conversion, Current News, Deadline, Legislation, Resolutions by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
6 July, 2016

This affects your favourite charity, your club, your sports group and the list goes on.  There are two cut-off dates of 31st August 2016 and 30th November 2016 for limited companies to change (convert) to one of the new company formats under the Companies Act 2014.  This applies to ALL limited companies, both trading companies and those charities, clubs or sports groups who are set up as limited companies.

This is not something that can be done in five minutes.  A Special Resolution needs to be submitted to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) together with a new constitution for the company.  The CRO will then issue a new Certificate of Incorporation when the company is converted.

For charities there is an extra step.  Charities need to draft their new constitution and submit it to the charities section of Revenue for them to agree it.  This is a requirement for those charities who are able to reclaim tax on donations.  Then the constitution needs to be lodged with the CRO for the company to be converted.  If you leave it to the last minute then you will be caught in bottlenecks in Revenue and also in the CRO and may miss the deadline.

More information on these matters can be found at www.cro.ie/Conversions/Overview; www.cro.ie/Publications/Publications/Information-Leaflets leaflet No 31; http://www.charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie/

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New tax to hit teenagers!

Filed Under: Current News, Government, mobile phones, Students by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
1 April, 2016

Legislation is being drafted by the (acting) Government to allow Revenue to implement a new tax starting on 1st July 2016. This tax will be a charge per keystroke on a mobile phone and it is expected to be a money winner for the (acting) Government. The only other country in the world with a similar tax is Japan where it has been successfully in operation for two years.

The way the tax works is this: if you send a text consisting of eight words with an average of five keystrokes per word (plus spaces), you will be taxed on having used 48 keystrokes. The rate at which the tax will be charged will be determined by the (acting) Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, but will probably be €0.0002 per keystroke. So for 20 text messages of eight words as above the tax will be €0.19.

As teenagers send the most texts they will be hardest hit by the new tax. An average teenager sends 100 texts in a three minute period consisting of between five and 20 words. Over a sixty minute period this works out at €24. If you have ever seen students going to school or college, every single one of them is on their mobile phone – all the time!

It is proposed that the tax will be collected by adding it onto your phone bill, effectively making the phone companies tax collectors! Needless to say, the phone companies are not in favour of this tax.

The (acting) Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, is fully supporting the new tax. Repetitive Strain Injury is becoming a real menace in our younger generation as thumbs are used for texting, with the added health hazard of the early onset of arthritis from the age of 23.

A percentage of the finance raised by the new tax will be returned to the Health Service to treat withdrawal symptoms as it is expected there will be a mass reduction of texting by teenagers. There will also be nationwide workshops on the lost art of verbal communication which is currently in danger of becoming extinct. As a pre-requisite for these workshops, Question 15 on the Census form for 24th April 2016 is “Can you communicate – Very well, Well, Not well, Not at all.”

More information about the new tax will be released by Revenue later this month.

Information moratorium until 1st April 2016.

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P60

Filed Under: Income Tax, Medical Expenses, P60, PPS, PRSI, Tax - general, Tax Credits, USC by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
28 January, 2016

Now is the time you should be receiving a P60 from your employer or pension provider. They are required by Revenue to issue them between 1st January and the 15th February showing your income for 2015.

What information do they show?
A P60 shows your name and Personal Public Service number (PPS), as well as your tax credits. Then the gross amount earned for the year together with the tax deducted by your employer and remitted to Revenue.
 
Your P60 will also show the amount of income for Universal Social Charge (USC) purposes, which is not always the same as the taxable gross income. For instance, if you received some Benefit in Kind it will be added into your USC gross income. The amount of USC deducted by your employer will also be shown.
 
Then there is the amount of Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) deducted as well. This is what your Contributory State Pension (formerly the Old Age Pension) will be based on in due course. It is important that these are recorded correctly by the Department of Social Protection. If you are in any doubt about the number of contributions that you have paid, or what type of deductions have been made by you, you can request a copy of the record of your contributions held by the Department of Social Protection, by phoning the PRSI Records Customer Service Team at 1890 690 690.
 
What do you do with your P60?
This is the information you need to put into your Return of Income Tax for 2015. If you do not send in a return then there is no way for you to know if the correct amounts have been deducted from your salary. I am aware of one company with 3,500 employees, who did not update their employee tax credits when they received a batch of amendments from Revenue. The result was an incorrect amount of tax was deducted and had to be sorted out at the end of the year.
 
Do you need to send in a tax return?
If you have untaxed income of more than €3,147 then you are required to submit a tax return. If Revenue have written to you to say that you are required to submit a tax return then you should do so. You could also be due a refund e.g. for incorrect tax credits or correct tax credits applied incorrectly, or you may be due a credit against your tax e.g. for medical expenses, so it is a good idea to send in a tax return.
 
If you send your tax return in now, you will get your refund back immediately. If you owe tax, then you still have until 31st October 2016 to pay it and it is a good idea to know how much it is so you can budget for it.
 
If you have any problems with any of the above, or if you do not understand it, then you should contact Cliff Kirker.

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Charities Regulatory Authority

Filed Under: Charities, Current News, FAQ, Legislation by Cliff Kirker — Comments Off
18 November, 2015

The Charities Act 2009 requires all charitable organisations carrying out activities in the State to be registered with and to provide information relating to their organisation to the Charities Regulatory Authority. This includes both those charities who are, or who are not, registered with Revenue for the purpose of receiving tax back on donations.

There are currently about 8,500 charities registered with Revenue and these can be seen at http://www.revenue.ie/en/business/authorised-charities-resident.html .

Charities are now required to complete their registration at www.charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie . The process has been simplified in response to feedback from users. After the basic registration has been done the charity can maintain various information relating to their charity themselves. Depending on their turnover, they may also be required to supply financial accounts.

Staff from the Authority are currently doing road-shows in a very co-operative hand-on fashion explaining the process of registration and answering questions.

This registration process will, in due course, also extend to all schools and to Parent Teacher Associations and other sub-level groups.

More information can be found at www.charitiesregulatoryauthority.ie .

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31st October 2015 Deadline

Filed Under: AVC, Capital Acquisitions Tax, Capital Gains Tax, CAT, CGT, Claim, Current News, Deadline, Domicile Levy, FAQ, Gift, Home Renovation Scheme, Income Tax, Inheritance, Local Property Tax, LPT, Preliminary Tax, PRSA, RAC, ROS, Tax - general, USC by Cliff Kirker — Leave a comment
5 October, 2015

Deadline• Due date for self-assessed Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax returns for the year of assessment 2014.
• Due date for the payment of any balance of Income Tax for the tax year 2014, if inadequate preliminary tax was paid for 2014.
• Due date for the payment of Preliminary Income Tax (inclusive of USC) for the tax year 2015.
• Due date for the payment of Capital Acquisitions Tax and filing returns in respect of gifts and inheritances taken in the 12 month period ended on 31st August 2015.
• Due date for the payment and return of €200,000 Domicile Levy for 2014.
• Latest date for making contributions to a PRSA, an AVC or an RAC for the tax year 2014.

Some of the above dates are extended to 12th November 2015 if using ROS.

Other relevant dates:

1st November 2015:
Date on which residential property must be held in order to be liable for the 2016 Local Property Tax.

31st December 2015:
General deadline for qualifying work under the Home Renovation Incentive.
Claims for repayments of Income Tax for the year of assessment 2011 must be submitted by this date.

As usual if you have any questions about your tax then contact us.

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