This new electronic form is needed by employers who are required to report certain share based remuneration electronically to Revenue. Finance Act 2020 introduced a mandatory reporting obligation on employers, essentially this means that reporting by employers is extended to include other share awards not currently reportable.
According to Revenue the ESA return applies for the tax year 2020 onwards.
Deadline for reporting
The statutory deadline for reporting share scheme information using the existing electronic returns KEEP1, RSS1, ESS1 is 31 March following the relevant tax year. This 31 March deadline remains and also applies to the new ESA return. As this new ESA return was not available in advance of 31 March 2021, the deadline for the 2020 ESA return was 31 August 2021. However, Revenue issued updated guidance on 31 August 21 to confirm that the deadline was extended further for the 2020 return to 14 September 2021.
For subsequent tax years the deadline for filing the ESA return will also be 31 March of the following the relevant tax year i.e. for 2021 the deadline for the ESA return will be 31 March 2022.
Format of new return
Revenue have produced the new ESA return which is similar to the existing KEEP1, RSS1 and ESS1 electronic return. Essentially this is a pre-formatted spreadsheet which can be uploaded through Revenue Online Service (ROS).
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What next?
Contact your Grant Thornton advisor to discuss your reporting requirements and how we can assist you with filing the new ESA return with Revenue.
