Revenue has launched a consultation on the modernisation of the administration of VAT.
It follows a commitment made by the Minister for Finance in his Budget speech earlier this week to examine how digital advances might be used to modernise Ireland's VAT reporting system.
In a statement, Revenue said digital technology advances offer the possibility of redesigning how VAT is administered to align compliance obligations more closely with normal business processes.
"This will reduce compliance costs and yield efficiencies for tax-compliant businesses, while enabling Revenue to focus more effectively on combatting fraud," it said.
"In that context, Revenue’s objective is to advance the introduction of real-time digital reporting for VAT, supported by electronic invoicing (eInvoicing)."
It added that recent reforms in many developed countries could provide experience for Ireland to learn from and discussions are also underway at EU level about proposals for similar developments around cross-border transactions within the union.
"The focus of this initial public consultation is the modernisation of Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) VAT reporting, supported by eInvoicing," Revenue said.
"Revenue is seeking the views of all VAT stakeholders, including businesses, accounting software providers, eInvoicing providers, tax practitioners, accounting firms, bookkeepers, business and industry experts and any other interested persons."
The consultation will run until January 12th.
The development was welcomed by minister Michael McGrath.
"With the continued advancement of technology, it is important that the State continuously assesses its current operations to ensure that we are keeping pace with that advancement and that we are fully availing of the opportunities available," he said.
