What's the difference between late filing surcharges & late payment interest?

If you have miss the deadline of 14 November for filing your 2023 tax return you can expect to receive an automatic late filing surcharge and you will also be charged interest on the outstanding tax bill. These are two separate costs.

Late filing surcharges

If you submit your income tax return at any point beyond the filing deadline you will be issued with a surcharge of 5% (subject to a maximum amount of €12,695). If the return is more than 2 months late this surcharge is increased to 10% (subject to a maximum amount of €63,585).

For example, where a proprietary director files their income tax return 3 months late. Their tax liability for the year was €15,000 which was paid through the PAYE system. A surcharge of €1,500 would be payable even though there is no tax liability outstanding.

Late payment interest

Late payment interest is charged to reflect the fact that Revenue effectively gave interest-free credit whilst the tax payment was outstanding. 

The current rate of interest charged is 0.0219% of your liability per day.

Act Fast!

Date published 13 Nov 2019 | Last updated 13 Nov 2024

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.