Report on the public consultation process

Revenue has published a report on its recent public consultation about modernising Ireland’s administration of Value-Added Tax (VAT).

The consultation asked for views on proposals to introduce real-time, digital VAT reporting for businesses in Ireland, based on electronic invoicing. The proposed modernisations will fit with the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) reform initiative currently being discussed at EU Council.

Revenue’s public consultation ran from October 2023 until January 2024.

In total, 1,118 responses were received. Views and comments came from businesses of all sizes, especially SMEs, who are involved in reporting and paying VAT. Submissions were also received from many other stakeholders involved in VAT implementation. These included accountancy and taxation firms, software providers, professional bodies, and business organisations.

The report provides a summary of the main points emerging from the consultation submissions. Respondents were asked to reply to seven consultation questions. To view copies of their individual replies please see consultation submissions. Most business respondents also provided some context information about their own business, which was requested on a confidential basis. 

As expected, the public consultation gave Revenue valuable insights into how businesses currently understand and think about the proposed modernisation. The process highlighted practical issues and concerns for businesses in any move to introduce digital reporting and extend electronic invoicing. Designing and implementing successful modernisation will require these issues to be addressed. In their submissions, participants in the consultation outlined some ideas on how this could be achieved. The responses also shared insights from the experience of businesses who operate in other countries that have already undertaken similar reforms.

Revenue would like to thank all contributors for their submissions to the public consultation process. The views, comments and ideas they shared will help to inform decisions about how best we can modernise Ireland’s VAT administration.

Next steps

Revenue intends to continue to engage with the VAT community on this topic. We will have further consultations and other public engagement as our reform proposals take clearer shape, are tested, refined and put into operation. In particular, we want to conduct targeted discussions as we explore key issues and consider potential solutions in greater detail. In this regard, we will also extend our engagement with policy-makers and other relevant public bodies. We will also continue our discussions with the EU Commission on the ViDA proposals.

For background information, please see the public consultation paper which Revenue published in October 2023.

Enquires about VAT modernisation can be directed to vatmodernisation@revenue.ie.