Monday 7 June 2010

PAYE ANYTIME



The Revenue are currently promoting their Online PAYE registration system.
On the register screen you will be asked for a number of details. Once you have given them these details, they will match them up with their own records.
If the details match, you will be issued with a PIN within 5 working days. Once you have your PIN, you are ready to use PAYE anytime.
Once registered, you can:
  • View your tax record.
  • Claim a wide range of tax credits: service charges, union subscriptions and Rent Credit etc.
  • Apply for refunds of tax including health expenses.
  • Declare additional income.
  • Request a review of tax liability for previous years.
  • Re-allocate credits between yourself and your spouse.
  • Track your correspondence submitted to Revenue.

Contact us if you need assistance in registering with the Revenue.

TAX INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESSES AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT




Despite the fact that Ireland continues to run a large budget deficit, the tax position for corporate, both domestic and foreign, wishing to invest in, or expand activities in Ireland, continues to remain positive. Some of the main incentives worth highlighting are:
  • Continuation of 12.5% corporate tax rate on trading activities.
  • Continuation of research and development tax credits.
  • Exemption from tax for certain start up companies for a three year period.
  • Withholding tax exemption on dividends paid to overseas companies with less onerous “paperwork” than heretofore.
  • Participation exemption for companies whereby certain sales of trading subsidiaries are exempt from Irish capital gains tax.

From the perspective of the business “owner” or overseas Manager seconded to Ireland, the abolition of the remittance basis in 2006 was a significant obstacle in luring overseas personnel to Ireland, as in many cases it resulted in an increase in these individuals’ personal tax liability. The relief was partially reinstated in 2008 and now Finance Act 2010 has further increased the relief available which will be a welcome development in boosting Ireland’s overall attractiveness as a place in which to locate business.






Friday 16 April 2010

Back Up Your Data!


The safe storage of business data is an essential requirement for all businesses.

Figures from a recent Google survey suggest that hard disks have a failure rate of around 7% each year, which means that information stored on a hard disk can be at significant risk of irretrievable loss unless backup copies are regularly produced. Failure to back up correctly can result in potentially damaging consequences. Here are three things you should do to protect your business data:


  1. Think about where your data is being stored. In any organisation data can exist in a wide variety of formats whether it’s on a memory stick, CD or DVD, the hard drive of a laptop, PC, server, or even an off-site data centre. Is it secure and cost effective? Do all employees back up business data?

  2. Think about what information needs to be stored and for how long. Continually purchasing additional storage as demand seemingly dictates can get expensive, so it is prudent to only keep data that is valuable and likely to be needed in the future.

  3. Back-up regularly! Data storage is much like physical storage – it needs to be well managed to make sure that it is secure, that the space is used efficiently and that nothing is being kept unnecessarily. It’s easy to retain old files that nobody takes ownership of, but it’s important to make sure files are accounted for, sensibly stored and ultimately archived then destroyed when they are no longer needed.


    Please contact us if you would like to talk about this area.