Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 811A

Transactions to avoid liability to tax: surcharge, interest and protective notification

Section 811A provides for a 20 per cent surcharge and interest on tax payable where Revenue successfully determine that a transaction is a tax avoidance transaction, and allows a taxpayer to make a protective notification to guard against such surcharge and interest.

• Where Revenue's opinion that a transaction is tax avoidance becomes final, the taxpayer is liable to a surcharge of 20 per cent of the tax payable together with interest running from the date the tax would originally have been due had there been no avoidance.
• A taxpayer may deliver a protective notification of a transaction within 90 days of the transaction commencing; if a valid notification is made on time, no surcharge or interest applies (other than interest accruing from the date the opinion becomes final).
• Where a valid protective notification has been received by Revenue, the time within which Revenue may form an opinion that the transaction is a tax avoidance transaction is limited to two years from the date the notification was received.
• This section applies only to transactions commenced on or before 23 October 2014; transactions commenced after that date fall within the replacement provisions in section 811D.