Azets Webinar: The UK & Ireland Trade Corridor – post-Brexit

EisnerAmper Ireland was delighted to participate in a Brexit webinar today hosted by our friends in Azets; an international accounting, tax, audit, advisory and business services firm. Today’s webinar, attended by more than 300 participants, focused on the UK and Ireland Trade Corridor – post-Brexit.

Frank Keane, Partner and Head of Client Internationalisation and Philip Slattery, Assistant Tax Manager at EisnerAmper Ireland, provided insightful contributions as guest speakers. Frank and Philip discussed challenges UK businesses will face post-Brexit and why UK firms might consider Ireland to future proof their access to the EU. Additionally, Frank and Philip provided an overview of Ireland’s compliance landscape and discussed areas for consideration for UK firms establishing operations in Ireland.

We would like to thank the Azets team who gave insightful contributions on today’s topics;

• Scott Craig, Partner and Head of VAT;
• Lucy Sutcliffe, Director of National Customs Duty; and
• Andy Dawbarn, VAT Partner.

Many thanks to the 300 plus participants who joined the webinar and the guests who contributed to our Q&A session.

This article, Azets Webinar: The UK & Ireland Trade Corridor – post-Brexit, first appeared on eisneramper.ie.

EisnerAmper Ireland hosts The Practitioner Academy 2020

The EisnerAmper Ireland Academy 2020, the Firm’s annual all-staff training programme, was held for the ninth year running on Thursday, 15 October. This year we were adapting and innovating to our changing environment and hosted our first Virtual Academy. The “Practitioner Academy” focused upon developing great practitioner skills to enable us to do great work for our clients in a changing world. We had an action packed line up of keynote speakers and thinkers, skills workshops, break-out and plenary sessions.

The Practitioner Academy guest speakers.

The Academy is specifically designed for our professionals to accelerate their “on the job” learning and to facilitate their journey towards becoming not just great accountants but exceptional advisers and practitioners. Participants acquire the necessary core awareness, knowledge, skills and confidence to successfully further their careers in practice.

The theme of this year’s programme was ‘Doing great work for our clients in a changing world’ and included workshops, technical training, team building and knowledge exercises reaffirming EisnerAmper Ireland’s commitment to achieving and maintaining excellence in everything we do. The workshops encouraged our staff to develop their design thinking skills and their self-awareness.

Our staff attendees at our virtual Academy.

We would like to thank our guest speakers for their insightful contributions:

• Mark Nolan, Consulting Director, Genesis Consultants – Thoughts on our rapidly changing environment and the future of work;
• Catherine Guy, CEO Sixt, FAI Board, former Managing Partner, Byrne Wallace – Doing great work – Practitioner & client perspectives;
• Tony Carey, Managing Director, Cooney Carey – Skills and strategies for successful negotiation;
• Peter Cogan, Managing Partner, EisnerAmper LLP – Strategy & growth insights; and
• Stephen McCullough, Barrister at Law – Applying the Principles of Natural Justice.

This article, EisnerAmper Ireland hosts The Practitioner Academy 2020, first appeared on eisneramper.ie.

UK Resident Directors

Brexit – Implications for UK Resident Directors of Irish Companies

On 31 December 2020, the transition period between the UK and the EU will come to an end. If thereafter no agreement is in place, Irish companies which have UK resident directors may need to take action to ensure continued compliance with Section 137 of the Companies Act 2014. This is the requirement to have at least one EEA resident director. The EEA is the European Economic Area comprising all EU member states, in addition to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

In the event of a hard Brexit, an Irish company which currently has a UK resident director fulfilling this requirement should consider replacing the director or appointing an additional director who is resident in the EEA. In the event that a company does not have an EEA resident director, it can avail of one of two exemptions:

1. Secure a Section 137 Non-EEA Resident Director Bond

A company can put in place a Section 137 Bond to the value of €25,000 to cover a failure by the company to pay a fine or penalty in respect of offences under the Companies Act 2014 and certain offences under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. The bond, which costs €1,750, needs to be put in place for a minimum two year-period.

2. Apply for a Section 140 Certificate

A second option is for a company to apply to the Irish Revenue Commissioners and Companies Registration Office for a Section 140 Certificate confirming the company has a real and continuous link with one or more economic activities that are being carried on in the State.

Implications of EEA Resident Director Non-Compliance

Failure to meet the EEA Resident Director requirements is a criminal offence and could lead to a fine of up to €5,000. Additionally, under Section 725(1)(a) of the Companies Act 2014, the Companies Registration Office has the power to strike companies off the register if they believe them to be in breach of Section 137(1) of the Companies Act 2014.

This article, UK Resident Directors, first appeared on eisneramper.ie.

The content above is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide, nor does it constitute, professional advice on any particular matter. If you would like more information or would like to discuss any of the topics raised above, please contact eisneramper.ie.