Revenue eBrief No. 121/21

20 June 2021

Approved Profit Sharing Schemes (APSS)

Chapter 10 of the Share Schemes Manual on Approved Profit Sharing Schemes (APSS) has been updated as follows:

• Paragraph 10.3.7 has been inserted to request that companies who have schemes which are no longer active and that will not be active again in the future notify Revenue so that the schemes can be de-registered.
• Paragraph 10.5.1 has been amended to highlight the fact that trust instruments submitted to Revenue for approval must be governed by Irish law.
• Paragraph 10.6.10 has been divided into three sub paragraphs for clarity.
• Paragraph 10.6.10.1 has been amended as follows:
  • To update references to Chapter 13 of the consolidated Share Scheme Manual to Chapter 15.
  • To confirm that the filing deadline for the 2019 ESS1 was extended from 31 March 2020 to 31 October 2020.
  • To highlight that the tax registration number of the establishing company, or its Irish subsidiary in cases where the establishing company is a foreign parent company, is a mandatory filed on the ESS1 return.
  • To confirm that a nil ESS1 return must be filed where no activity has taken place for an approved scheme during a year of assessment.
• Paragraph 10.6.10.3 has been inserted to confirm that trusts established for the purpose of an APSS are considered excluded accounts for CRS DAC2 reporting requirements and an excluded product for FATCA purposes.
• Paragraph 10.12.2 has been amended to confirm employers obligation to return employee PRSI and USC due through payroll.
• Paragraph 10.12.12 has been inserted to set out the treatment that will apply where a scheme participant is accidentally omitted from an appropriation of shares.
• Paragraph 10.14.9 has been inserted to set out the tax treatment of a distribution in specie from a demerged company where shares have been appropriated to participants of an APSS and the release date for those shares has not been reached. This update incorporates content previously included in Revenue Tax Briefing Issue 54 - December 2003.