Ireland: Overview

1. Ask which professional body, if any, each named person belongs to, and check it. Revenue does not approve advisers, so a professional body's register and code are the external checks this page describes. Chartered Accountants Ireland and the Irish Tax Institute each keep a member directory; the checking an adviser's credentials page says how to use them and what a listing does and does not tell you.
2. Ask whether the adviser will act as your agent with Revenue, under a TAIN, or only prepare the figures. The two are different jobs with different access to your Revenue record; the engagement letter should say which.2Source 2Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 37-00-04b, Guidelines for Agents or Advisors acting on behalf of taxpayers (September 2026): "Revenue does not operate any system for approving tax agents or advisors"; a TAIN or tax clearance certificate is not "approval or an endorsement by Revenue of an entity's conduct, experience or abilities".
3. Check the 12 month deadline before anything else. A claim made after it is out of time, and an adviser who proposes a claim for an earlier period should be asked to show how it is still open.1Source 1Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 29-02-03, Research and Development (R&D) Corporation Tax Credit (April 2026), section 2.6: "A claim for the R&D corporation tax credit must be made within 12 months from the end of the accounting period" in which the expenditure was incurred. The cold calls about unclaimed refunds page covers unsolicited offers.
4. Ask how the fee is calculated and what it covers. The engagement letter decides four things: what the fee is a percentage of, what happens to it if Revenue claws back part of the credit, whether help with a Revenue compliance intervention is included, and who owns the working papers. Read it against the twenty questions and the contracts section. The fee and preparer rules themselves are on the sister site linked beside this page.
5. Read the technical case before the return goes in. The company makes the claim and answers for it; the your responsibility page sets out what that means, including clawback with interest, penalties, and Revenue's four year time limit for amending an assessment.

If Revenue opens a compliance intervention into the claim, read if your claim is reviewed and take advice before you reply. If the problem is the adviser, the complaints about an adviser page sets out the order: the firm first, then its professional body. The guidelines set out what Revenue expects of agents; the Revenue pages read for this page describe no complaints route for clients about an adviser.2Source 2Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 37-00-04b, Guidelines for Agents or Advisors acting on behalf of taxpayers (September 2026): "Revenue does not operate any system for approving tax agents or advisors"; a TAIN or tax clearance certificate is not "approval or an endorsement by Revenue of an entity's conduct, experience or abilities".

• Checking an adviser's credentials, your responsibility, if your claim is reviewed and complaints about an adviser
• Who is named on the claim? and what qualifications does the team have?
• How to choose an R&D tax adviser

Sources

1. Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 29-02-03, Research and Development (R&D) Corporation Tax Credit (April 2026), section 2.6: "A claim for the R&D corporation tax credit must be made within 12 months from the end of the accounting period" in which the expenditure was incurred.   Back
2. Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 37-00-04b, Guidelines for Agents or Advisors acting on behalf of taxpayers (September 2026): "Revenue does not operate any system for approving tax agents or advisors"; a TAIN or tax clearance certificate is not "approval or an endorsement by Revenue of an entity's conduct, experience or abilities".    Back