The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has today, Tuesday, June 9, announced that notifications for the preliminary checks under the 2020 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) are now issuing to farmers.
These notifications are issued where the department finds a problem – such as an overclaim, overlap or a dual claim – on the farmer’s 2020 BPS application. The notification allows the farmer the opportunity to rectify these issues without penalty, the department said.
Where a farmer (or agent) receives such a notification, they should log on to ‘agfood’ and respond before the closing date of June 19, 2020, the department explained.
Tax defaulters
In other news, a number of farmers and contractors featured in a list of tax defaulters published by Revenue for the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 – with one farmer handed a fine to the tune of €633,203 for tax offences during this time-frame.
This relates to the period of January 1, to March 31, 2020, according to Revenue, which published the list today.
The tax defaulters list is published in two parts. Part one includes persons in whose case the court has determined a penalty relating to a settlement – or has imposed a fine, imprisonment or other penalty in respect of a tax or duty offence.
The second part includes persons in whose case Revenue has accepted a settlement offer instead of initiating court proceedings, or where a settlement has been paid in full.