You will be aware that Revenue carries out a range of checks to ensure that returns are filed and are correct. If you are concerned that you may need to correct a tax return, it is important for you to know that there are significant advantages available, if you make any necessary corrections before Revenue contacts you. By doing this, you can avail of reduced penalties, avoid having your name published in a list of tax defaulters and avoid possible prosecution.

From 1 May 2017, significant changes are being made where any corrections to tax returns relate to a person’s offshore matters and matters outside the Republic of Ireland. These changes restrict a person’s opportunity to make a “qualifying disclosure”. If this affects you, you should correct your tax returns by making a “qualifying disclosure” before 1 May 2017.

You should get independent advice if you have such an issue.

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This will eliminate the need to pay late filing penalties and for most companies retain audit exemption.

The company can make an application to the District Court seeking an order extending the time for filing the annual return and the financial statements. If granted by the Court, the company must file the order with the CRO within 28 days and then file the annual return and the financial statements with the CRO within the extended time granted by the Court.

As the company cannot represent itself it must seek legal representation at the District Court where the registered office is situated.

The company directors will have to weigh up the cost of paying the late filing penalties in addition to the cost of an audit to be carried out for the current financial statements and the following year against the cost of making the application to the District Court

The District Court application process cannot be used for companies that have been struck off the register according to the Companies Registration Office.

We can assist with the process if required.

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When I am surrounded by pessimism, I will choose optimism;

• When I feel fear, I will choose faith;
• When I want to hate, I will choose love;
• When I want to be bitter, I will choose to get better;
• When I experience a challenge, I will look for an opportunity to learn and grow;
• When I experience a setback, I will be resilient;
• When I meet failure, I will fail forward, toward future success;
• With vision, hope, and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward toward my destiny;
• I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me;
• I believe I’m here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges;
• I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it make everyone around me better;
• So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world.

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That VAT number together with an indication that the reverse charge applies must be included on the relevant invoice issued by the business along with the company’s own VAT Number and the usual information.

Vat is charged at Zero %.

The following sample wording might be useful:

Reverse VAT charge applies in accordance with the Fourth Schedule to the VAT Act 1972 as amended.

Customer VAT No.:

The post How to Apply VAT Reverse Charge appeared first on Parfrey Murphy.

A. FORM F12

A Form F12 must be completed and filed with the Companies RegistrationOffice with a filing fee of €60. This form must be submitted along with:

• A copy of the certificate of incorporation.
• A copy of any certificates of incorporation on any name changes of the company.
• A copy of the last set of financial statements submitted to the overseasCompanies House for the parent company.
• A certified and translated (if necessary) copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company.

The documents to be certified as true within the country in which the company is incorporated should be by:

• The Registrar of Companies,or
• A notary public, or
• An officer of the company on oath before a person having authority to administer an oath.

B. REVENUE COMMISSIONERS

After registration in the Companies Registration Office, a Form TR2(FT) must be completed, signed by a Director of the parent company and filed with the Revenue Commissioners to register for taxation purposes.

C. LETTERHEADS

After the Branch has been registered with the Companies Registration Office, every letter and order form used by the Branch is required to bear the following:

• The place of registration of the company
• The number with which it is registered
• The legal classification of the company
• The address of its registered office
• The place of registration of the Branch and its registration number

2. ANNUAL RETURNS

A. COMPANIES REGISTRATION OFFICE

Accounting documents to be submitted to the Companies Registration Office annually with a filing fee of €15 are:

• The accounts of the company for the period, including if it has one or moresubsidiaries, any consolidated accounts of the group
• Any annual report of the Directors for the period
• The report of the auditors on the company accounts
• Any report of the auditors on the directors report.

The annual return (Form F7) and accounts must be filed within 11 months from the company’s financial year end or at the same time as they are published in the country of incorporation, whichever is earlier.

B. REVENUE COMMISSIONERS

An annual Corporation Tax Return (Form CT1) must be filed with the Revenue Commissioners within 9 months after the branch’s financial year end i.e. if the branch’s financial year end is 31 December 2015 the branch’s Corporation Tax Return must be filed with the Irish Revenue Commissioners by 21 September 2016.

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Joke: Why was the accountant in rehab?
Solvency abuse.

Joke: What’s an accountant’s favourite book?
50 Shades of Grey.

Joke: What’s grey and not there?
An accountant on vacation.

Joke : Have you heard the joke about the interesting accountant?
No. Me neither.

Joke: What did the accountant do to liven up the office party?
Not show up.

Joke: “Doctor, doctor, I’ve taken the medicine you prescribed but it’s not working. What should I do?”
“Try using your calculator.”
“How will that help?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s something you can count on”.

Joke: What happens when you lock a wild hyena and an accountant in a room?
The hyena stops laughing.

Joke: Did you know that 10 out of 9 accountants can’t count?

The post A few jokes appeared first on Parfrey Murphy.

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Thomas Nagle and Reed Holden in their book The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing detail nine factors that influence how a consumer perceives a given price and how price-sensitive they are with different purchasing decisions.

They are:

Reference Price Effect

A buyer’s price sensitivity for a given product increases the higher the product’s price relative to perceived alternatives.

Difficult Comparison Effect

Buyers are less sensitive to the price of a known or more reputable product when they have difficulty comparing it to potential alternatives.

Switching Costs Effect

The higher the product-specific investment a buyer must make to switch suppliers, the less price sensitive that buyer is when choosing between alternatives.

Price-Quality Effect

Buyers are less sensitive to price the more that higher prices signal higher quality specially for image and exclusive products.

Expenditure Effect

Buyers are more price-sensitive when the expense is a large percentage of the buyers’ available income/budget.

End-Benefit Effect

The effect refers to the relationship a purchase has to a larger overall benefit, and has two parts: Derived demand: The more sensitive buyers are to the price of the end benefit, the more sensitive they will be to the prices of those products that contribute to that benefit. Price proportion cost: The price proportion cost is the percent of the total cost of the end benefit accounted for by a given component that helps to produce the end benefit. The smaller the given components share of the total cost of the end benefit, the less sensitive buyers will be to the components’ price.

Shared-cost Effect

The smaller the portion of the purchase price buyers must pay for themselves, the less price sensitive they will be.

Fairness Effect

Buyers are more sensitive to the price of a product when the price is greater than what they consider is fair or reasonable given the purchase context.

The Framing Effect

Buyers are more price sensitive when they perceive the price as a loss rather than a gain forgone and they have greater price sensitivity when the price is paid separately rather than as part of a bundle.

How can you successfully apply the above information?

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The following brief note concentrates simply on 6 key growth drivers to land more business rather than the profit or cash flow consequences of this. Bear in mind that “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, while cash is reality”.

1. Get your customers to buy more from you. The easiest way to increase your sales is simply to sell more to your existing customers. They are already in a buying relationship and presumably know, like and trust you. When McDonalds ask “would you like fries with that” most people normally agree. An immediate sales increase!
2. Get your customers to buy more frequently from you. Consider how you can increase the number of times you get/ask your customers to buy from you. You can do this by having a loyalty scheme or a regular customer contact program.
3. Get your customers to stay customers for longer. Studies have indicated that the average customer defection rate is about 20% and that 2/3’s of these leave because of perceived indifference. They feel that they are being taken for granted and they are no longer important to you. It is your responsibility to show at all times that you do care by providing them with top class service at all times.
4. Getting more customers is what most businesses concentrate on. The key to this driver is to make your existing strategies more efficient and effective and by coming up with new strategies.
5. Another growth driver is to convert more leads into sales. In excess of 70% of customers say “NO” at least 5 times before actually buying so in this regard you need to be patient and persistent to get past the 5th “NO”. You should have a sales approach that makes buying less risky for customers and removes all the issues that cause them to say “NO”.
6. The most powerful driver is pricing as raising prices has the biggest impact of all as in many cases price increases go straight onto the bottom line. But raising prices comes with the risk that you lose customers in the process so you need to make sure that what you are selling and how you are selling it has value for your customers.

If you are interested in exploring how the above drivers can be applied to your business please let me know as I am organising a small select course on this very soon. You can email your interest to me at seamusp@parfreymurphy.ie.

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