Making a disclosure

What is a qualifying disclosure?

A qualifying disclosure is information you give to Revenue if you:

• have not reported all of your income or gains
• or
• have made an error on your tax return.

This qualifying disclosure may be unprompted or prompted.

Unprompted qualifying disclosure

An unprompted qualifying disclosure is a disclosure made at any time before a Revenue audit notification letter issues, or an investigation starts.

Prompted qualifying disclosure

A prompted qualifying disclosure is a disclosure made after you have received notice of a Revenue audit. The disclosure must be made between:

• the date we inform you of the audit start date
• and
• the date the audit starts.

How do I make a qualifying disclosure?

To make a qualifying disclosure, you must:

• give all relevant information about the issues that have resulted in tax being due
• state the amount of tax and interest due, and the periods for which they are due
• send this to Revenue in writing, sign it, or have it signed on your behalf
• include a declaration that as far as you know all information in the disclosure is correct and complete
• and
• include a payment for any tax or duty, and interest due for late payment.

To be accepted by Revenue, a disclosure must be accompanied by a payment of the tax or duty, and the interest due. It is possible to arrange for payment in instalments.

You can find further details about tax default and tax behaviour in Chapter 4 of the Code of Practice for Revenue compliance interventions.

Penalty rates

We will review your disclosure to check if it is a qualifying disclosure. In a case where a penalty arises the amount of the penalty is generally computed by us, agreed with the taxpayer and paid. The amount of the penalty will depend on whether:

• your disclosure was unprompted or prompted
• the additional tax due is above €6,000
• your error was careless or deliberate
• and
• you co-operated fully during the process.

Penalties must be paid in full.

It is a matter for a court to determine whether the person is liable to a penalty where they:

• do not agree liability to a penalty
• or
• do not pay a penalty to which they have agreed liability.

For further information, please see Chapter 4 of the Code of Practice for Revenue Compliance Interventions.

Five year rule

Even if this is not the first qualifying disclosure you have made, we will treat it as the first if:

• you have not made a qualifying disclosure for a liability covered by the same Taxes Act in the last five years
• your previous disclosure related to a tax covered by a different Taxes Act
• or
• your previous disclosure was in the ‘careless behaviour without significant consequences’ category.

For more details of making a qualifying disclosure, see Chapter 2 of the  Code of Practice for Revenue Compliance Interventions.