Following the European Commission’s approval of the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS), Revenue has opened the e-Registration facility in Revenue’s Online Service (ROS) via the ‘Mange Tax Registrations’ link. A facility for making claims under the TBESS will be available via the eRepayments system on ROS from 5 December and qualifying claims will be paid once Finance Act 2022 is enacted later in December. Eligible businesses who have successfully completed registration and made valid claims by the third week in December for the months of September, October and November will be paid before the end of the year.
The scheme is open to businesses that:
- are tax compliant
- carry on a Case I trade or Case II profession (including certain charities and approved sporting bodies in relation to certain activities), and
- have experienced a significant increase of 50 percent or more in their natural gas and electricity average unit price in the relevant bill period as compared to a corresponding reference period in the previous 12 months.
If a business is availing of the Debt Warehousing Scheme or a Phased Payment Arrangement, it will still be eligible for tax clearance provided it meets its obligations under those arrangements. Potential applicants for the TBESS who may not already hold tax clearance are urged to apply on Revenue’s e-Tax Clearance system on ROS as soon as possible as they will not be able to register for the scheme in the absence of tax clearance.
The TBESS will assist qualifying businesses with their electricity and/or natural gas costs from 1 September 2022 to 28 February 2023. To register for the TBESS a business will need to provide details of the trade or profession, and details of the business electricity and/or natural gas account, such as MPRN number and/or GPRN number. A business will also be required, where relevant, to give their percentage of eligible use for the electricity and/or natural gas account which can be attributed directly to the carrying on of the business. Apportionment between business and private use will be familiar to many businesses, particularly where a business is run from home, as this is done when calculating taxable profits for a tax return.
To prepare for the claim stage, a business will need all the electricity and natural gas bills for the reference period of 1 September 2021 to 28 February 2022 and its current energy bills to make a claim.
We will keep members updated via Chartered Accountants Tax News.