Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement Guidelines

Revenue has updated the Tax and Duty Manual which provides guidance on the operation of Ireland’s bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) programme. The programme provides certainty to taxpayers regarding the process involved in applying for a bilateral APA and the ongoing reporting and administrative requirements once an APA has been entered into. The updated Guidelines take into account international best practice in relation to bilateral APAs as identified by the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (September 2022). 

The main changes to the guidelines are as follows: 

• Including prospective years in an APA term in situations where most of the years proposed to be covered by an APA have passed by the time an agreement is reached between the competent authorities (Part 3.3). 

• Position to be adopted by a taxpayer in corporation tax returns filed in the period from when an APA application is submitted to Revenue until the APA is concluded (Part 4). 

• Electronic submission of APA applications (Part 4.2 and Part 8). 

• Timeframe for Revenue to make a decision in relation to the acceptance of an APA application into the APA programme (Part 4.2). 

• Annual reporting requirements (Part 4.5). 

• Timeframe for a taxpayer to notify Revenue in situations where it ceases to apply the terms of an APA (Part 4.5). 

• Amendment by a taxpayer, where necessary, of previously filed tax returns following the revision, revocation or cancellation of an APA (Part 5). 

• Relationship between transfer pricing audit and the APA process (Part 6).