IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Amelia O’Beirne and Trevor Glavey, A&L Goodbody
9. Dispute Prevention 9.1 Advance Pricing Agreements
The CCF is a voluntary programme that is available to groups with annual turnover in excess of EUR350 mil - lion. Certain types of companies such as “Section 110 companies”, funds (excluding REITs) and partnerships are excluded from joining the CCF. The benefits for taxpayers who do participate can include fewer compliance interventions from Revenue and greater certainty in relation to their tax position. Opinions Revenue’s guidance on APAs confirms that they will not enter into unilateral APAs (ie, an agreement solely between the taxpayer and Revenue and not involv - ing another competent authority). Accordingly, purely domestic APAs are not a feature of the tax landscape in Ireland. Revenue does, however, operate a system where tax - payers and their agents may seek an opinion from Revenue that the taxpayer’s analysis of the tax con - sequences of a proposed course of action or transac - tion is acceptable to Revenue. In order for Revenue to issue an opinion in relation to a proposed transaction or activity, the request must satisfy certain conditions. Opinions are not binding on Revenue, the taxpayer or an Irish court. In practice, Revenue does not generally depart from its opinions unless any facts or assump - tions underpinning the opinion change. When granted, an opinion lasts for a maximum of five years.
Ireland established an APA programme effective 1 July 2016. Prior to this, Ireland accepted requests for bilateral APAs on an ad hoc basis where a DTA part - ner agreed to enter into bilateral APA negotiations. The programme only applies to transfer pricing issues (including the attribution of profits to a PE). In terms of the legal framework for APAs in Ireland, an APA is only available where Ireland has a DTA in place with the other jurisdiction concerned. In the absence of a DTA, Ireland cannot consider an APA application or engage in APA negotiations. The enabling provision for an APA under a DTA is the MAP article. As noted in 8.1 Availability and Legal Basis , all of Ireland’s DTAs contain a MAP article. An application for a bilateral APA can be made by a company that is tax-resident in Ireland and by a PE of a non-resident company. Only cases that involve a transaction where the transfer pricing issues involved are complex and there is significant doubt, or where there would otherwise be a high likelihood of double taxation in the absence of an APA, will be accepted by Revenue into its APA programme. The most recent APA statistics for Ireland show that in 2024 it concluded ten APAs, for which it was recog - nised as the most improved jurisdiction for APAs by the OECD for 2025. 9.2 Other Mechanisms Co-Operative Compliance Framework Revenue operates a Co-Operative Compliance Framework (CCF) to create and develop a relation - ship between taxpayers and Revenue with a view to achieving a high degree of tax compliance and cer - tainty.
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