Pearse Trust Blog

Almost exactly one year after the Irish Government announced the audit exemption for SMEs, the exemption has finally come into effect.

A Certificate of Good Standing (COGS) is a document which indicates that a Company is in continuous existence since its date of incorporation and that all Annual Return filings for the Company are up to date.

This blog post reviews a number of recent developments in the Irish tax environment, several of which will be of interest to those engaged in international tax.

A Settlor creates a Trust by transferring property, to one or more Trustees, to be held on trust for one or more Beneficiaries. Typically, a Trust is created by way of a trust instrument called a “Deed of Settlement” or a “Declaration of Trust”.

In order to remain competitive and compliant, most organizations must now address the governance issues that ensure that their data and content is trustworthy and reliable. A 2011 survey by Thompson Reuters indicated that 49% of Boards distributed their packs by email, although this is widely noted as an unsecure environment, and 50% of Boards thought it likely that their members routinely access their papers on unsecure networks. It also found that only 30% of Boards were confident that Directors destroyed their Board documents in accordance with company policy.

Fundy Settlement v Canada [2012 SCC 14] is a landmark case which used a test in order to put to rest any doubts which Trust Administrators might have in connection to the residence of a Trust for Tax purposes. 

Recently the Irish Revenue Commissioners have issued Tax Briefing No. 4 – July 2012. This Tax Briefing details the proposed introduction into the Irish tax legislation of the requirement to file financial statements in Inline XBRL (“iXBRL”) format and will have implications for all Irish companies in relation to the filing of their corporation tax returns. Initially Irish companies will have the option to file an iXBRL set of financial statements along with their corporation tax return. However, this process will become mandatory for some companies in 2013 and probably all companies in 2014.

Limited Partnerships (LPs) registered in England and Wales are governed by the Limited Partnership Act 1907. The characteristics of LPs registered in England and Wales differ slightly to those of LPs registered in Scotland. The key features of Scottish LPs were discussed in our blog '6 Essential Facts on Scottish Limited Partnerships'.