On 23 June 2025, Revenue issued updated guidance regarding the cancellation of VAT ‘waivers of exemption’ in respect of property lettings of less than 10 years which had been exercised prior to 1 July 2008 (hereafter ‘waivers’).
The update guidance confirms that, with effect from 20 December 2024, Revenue will no longer seek to collect a waiver “cancellation amount” when a waiver is cancelled.
This is a positive change for taxpayers owning properties subject to a waiver and follows the High Court judgment in the Killarney Consortium v. The Revenue Commissioners case delivered on 20 December 2024. That judgment concluded that the waiver cancellation provisions which required a landlord to repay the excess of VAT reclaimed over VAT charged in connection with a waiver are incompatible with EU VAT law.
The guidance is silent on whether taxpayers who paid a waiver cancellation sum before 20 December 2024 can now reclaim that VAT as overpaid tax. However, subject to a review of the fact pattern and the statute of limitations of 4 years, there may be scope to pursue such claims based on the Killarney Consortium judgment. Please contact a member of the KPMG Indirect Tax team if you would like to discuss this further.