In the recent Budget for 2021 the Minister for Finance announced that the tax debt warehousing scheme which is currently available to corporate taxpayers will be extended to self-employed individuals. For self-employed individuals the scheme will cover 2019 income tax and 2020 preliminary tax liabilities.
While this is welcome news for taxpayers that cannot afford to pay their upcoming income tax liabilities, it does however come with a pitfall that we want to highlight to you. While you are probably aware that the filing deadline for 2019 income tax returns has been extended to 10 December 2020, this extension only applies to taxpayers that actually pay their tax liabilities on 10 December 2020. As such, for taxpayers that are not in a position to pay their income tax liabilities by 10 December 2020, the filing deadline for the 2019 income tax return reverts to the default due date of 31 October 2020. If the income tax return is not filed by this date then Revenue can apply a late filing surcharge of 5% or 10% of the tax liability.
If you feel you will not be in a position to pay your income tax liabilities in full by the 10 December 2020 please contact Jane Jackson or Mairead Rooney on our tax team as soon as possible.
If you would like to speak to one of our tax team professionals, please contact us:
+353 42 933 9955 info@fdw.ie
Niall Donnelly
nialldonnelly@fdw.ie