Irish Revenue has issued eBrief No. 79/18 announcing an update to Tax and Duty Manual Part 06-09-01 to clarify the circumstances in which Revenue will regard a buyback of shares as benefiting the trade, which is one of the conditions for a buyback to not be treated as a distribution. As provided in the updated Tax and Duty Manual Part 06-09-01, the trade benefit test requires that the sole or main purpose of the buyback is to benefit a trade carried on by the company or of one of its 51% sub…