Air Travel Tax
Guide to Air Travel Tax
October 2011
- Introduction
- Application of Tax
- Rates of Tax
- Exemptions from Tax
- Liability for Tax
- Registration for Tax
- Payment of Tax
- Security for Payment of Tax
- Groundhandling Supplier’s Liability for Tax
- Returns
- Records
- Offences and Penalties
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. Introduction
Section 55 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2008 (No. 25 of 2008), as amended by section 18 of the Finance Act 2009 and section 48 of the Finance Act 2011, provides for an excise duty, called Air Travel Tax (ATT), on departures of passengers on flights from Irish airports.
This is an information guide on ATT for airline operators, groundhandling suppliers and airport authorities, and for passengers who depart on flights from Irish airports.
2. Application of Tax
Subject only to the exemptions outlined in paragraph 4, ATT will be charged, levied and paid in respect of every departure of a passenger on an aircraft from an Irish airport on or after 30 March 2009. The tax applies as and from that date irrespective of when a passenger booked or paid for the flight.
3. Rates of Tax
The rate of ATT from 1 March 2011 is €3 per passenger departing from an airport.
Until then, a rate of €2 applies where the flight is to a destination located not more than 300 kilometres from Dublin Airport. This covers all flights within Ireland and flights to the following locations in the UK: Cardiff, Glasgow, Prestwick, Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and Isle of Man. A rate of €10 applies to flights to any other destination.
4. Exemptions from Tax
ATT does not apply where an aircraft is not capable of carrying twenty or more passengers.
Departures from an airport from which the number of departures of passengers in the previous calendar year was less than 10,000 are not subject to the tax. Following further consideration of the position of small peripheral airports, the Minister for Finance has announced that provision for the raising of this threshold to 50,000 will be included in the next Finance Bill. In the meantime, the increased threshold will be applied on an administrative basis. ATT will not apply, therefore, to departures from Donegal Airport, Carrickfinn, Co. Donegal, or from Sligo Airport, Strandhill, Co. Sligo.
In addition, the departures of certain persons on aircraft and from airports to which ATT applies are exempt from the tax. These are:
- The crew of the aircraft (including any relief crew).
- A disabled person who has requested and availed of assistance from the airline operator in accordance with EU Council Regulation 1107/2006, and one person travelling with the disabled person for the purposes of providing care and assistance to the disabled person.
- A person under the age of two who does not occupy a seat on the aircraft.
- Transit and transfer passengers.
A transit passenger is a person who is on board an aircraft which lands at an airport in the course of its journey and who continues his or her journey on that aircraft. A transfer passenger is a passenger who arrives on a flight to an airport and who leaves on a further flight (other than to the airport where the passenger’s journey started), where both flights are part of a single booking and where the length of time between the scheduled time of arrival of the flight to the airport and the scheduled time of departure of the flight from that airport is not more than 6 hours.
5. Liability for Tax
An airline operator (that is, the operator or registered owner of an aircraft operating or offering an air passenger service) is liable to pay the ATT in respect of passengers departing on its aircraft, and is accountable to Revenue in relation to the tax.
In certain circumstances, an airline operator’s groundhandling supplier may become liable for payment of ATT: see paragraph 9.
6. Registration for Tax
Every airline operator must register with Revenue for the purposes of ATT, using the form: 
Air Travel Tax Registration Form - AT1 (PDF, 112KB) . The form should be completed and returned to "Collector-General, Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Mill Lane, Listowel, Co. Kerry, Republic of Ireland".
In the case of an airline operator who begins to operate after 30 March 2009, registration must be completed before the airline operator commences flights from Ireland.
7. Payment of Tax
ATT is payable to the Collector-General of the Revenue Commissioners. The tax for a given month must be paid not later than the 23rd of the following month. Interest is chargeable where ATT is not paid by the due date, at the rate of 0.0274 per cent for each day or part of a day during which the amount due remains unpaid.
ATT must be paid electronically through ROS (Revenue’s On Line Service), by means of a ROS Debit Instruction(RDI). See "About ROS' l for more information. Should you need assistance with your ROS registration contact the ROS Technical Helpdesk email at roshelp@revenue.ie or call 1890 20 11 06.
Customers wishing to set up an RDI should select the 'Complete/Amend/Download ROS Debit Instruction' hyperlink on the ROS My Services page. The RDI is completed online, signed and submitted to ROS using a ROS digital certificate.
In order to complete a ROS Debit Instruction you must be in possession of a current bank account capable of accepting a direct debit in a Bank domiciled in the Irish Republic. Details of all Banks domiciled in the Irish Republic that have an Irish Sort Code are available on the Irish Payments Services Website at www.ipso.ie)
. On the home page click "Log in to the National Sort Code Database". This Sort Code Database includes Irish Sort Code numbers and related Bank Branch information.
If you require assistance in setting up a ROS Debit Instruction or in making ATT payments, please email the ROS Payment Support Unit at rospayments@revenue.ie . or call 1890 20 11 06.
8. Security for Payment of Tax
The Revenue Commissioners have power to require an airline operator to provide security for payment of ATT. This could arise, for example, if an airline operator does not comply satisfactorily with filing and payment requirements. If security is being required, Revenue will specify to the airline operator concerned the type and amount of security that must be provided.
9. Groundhandling Supplier’s Liability for Tax
A groundhandling supplier may become liable for payment of ATT in certain circumstances.
If an airline operator is required by Revenue to provide security for payment of ATT and fails to do so, Revenue may then serve a notice on that operator’s groundhandling supplier. This notice will state that, as and from a date specified in it, the groundhandling supplier will be liable for ATT on departures on that airline operator’s flights.
10. Returns
In addition to the monthly payments of ATT, taxpayers will have to furnish a detailed annual return in relation to the tax to the Revenue Commissioners. The annual return, for a year must be submitted not later than 23 February of the following year and must give details of the number of persons who travelled on the airline operator’s aircraft, the number of those persons in respect of whom ATT was payable and at what rate, and the number of persons in respect of whom ATT was not payable and the grounds on which it wasn’t payable.
11. Records
Airline operators, groundhandling suppliers and airports are required to keep specified records relating to ATT, in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Air Travel Tax Regulations 2009 (S.I. No. 134 of 2009) (PDF, 82KB).
12. Offences and Penalties
It is an offence, under section 55(6) of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2008, to contravene or fail to comply with the provisions of ATT law, and a person convicted of such an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of €5,000. This is a standard excise law provision, and there are similar provisions for all of the other excise duties.
Fraudulent evasion of ATT is covered by section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. That section provides for the prosecution of such offences either summarily or on indictment, and allows the imposition, on conviction on indictment, of a fine not exceeding €126,970 or a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both.
13. Frequently Asked Questions
Questions and answers on aspects of ATT are in the FAQs.