asked the Minister for Finance if a separate tax section has been set up to approve the reimbursement of round-sum expenses by a private sector employer to his employee in accordance with a predetermined scale; the date of its establishment; the cost of the section; the savings achieved by it in the financial year 1985-86; if his attention has been drawn to the disruption being caused to business while employers are awaiting approval; if his attention has further been drawn to the burden being imposed on employees who cannot afford to incur expenses on behalf of their employers; the average time taken by the section to (a) respond to each application and (b) to grant approval; the statistics or criteria which are being used by the section to establish that payments are no more than reimbursing employees for the actual expenditure incurred; if the criteria are the same for public and private sectors for (i) costing allowable payments and (ii) granting approval; if he has made regulations; if not, if he intends to facilitate speedy approval of applications, rather than raising numerous queries on each application; if so when.
Written Answers. - Round-Sum Expenses Payments.
I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the tax treatment of round-sum expenses payments made by employers to their employees is dealt with in paragraph 35 of the Employer's Guide to PAYE (PAYE Guide No. 6) and the treatment is the same for employees in the public and private sectors.
The approval of round sum expenses payments made in accordance with a scale agreed between employer and employee (e.g. car mileage allowance, subsistence allowance, "country money" etc.) would normally be a matter for negotiation between the employer and his local inspector of taxes. However, cases proper to the Dublin PAYE districts are for the present being dealt with, in addition to other duties, in a central area in Dublin General District. Provided the relevant information being supplied to the inspector is satisfactory, there should be no undue delay in approving the payments in question.
The Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that the arrangements for dealing with the payments referred to in the question which are designed to counteract abuses which were prevalent in the past are being operated correctly and as expeditiously as current staff and other resources permit. The inspector of taxes has no power to make regulations in this field.
If the Deputy is aware of any case where a lengthy delay did occur in a tax district in granting the necessary approval and if she supplies the details I will have the matter investigated.