Each year, Irish VAT registered businesses are obliged to file a Return of Trading Details (RTD) with Revenue. The RTD is a summary of the supplies of goods and services, imports and purchases of the business giving rise to deductible input VAT broken down by the various VAT rates. The return includes all Irish, intra-EU and overseas trade carried out by the VAT registered business.

Over the past few years, Revenue have delayed tax refunds where no RTD for a year or a number of years has been filed by a business. Recently, Revenue have begun to increase the Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT) rate applicable to sub-contractors who have not filed an RTD and they will also deny tax clearance.

The annual RTD is due to be filed following the end of the accounting period of the business (in most cases this is the financial year). For VAT registered businesses with a 31 December year end, the VAT RTD for 2018 will be due to be filed by 23^rd January 2019.