Section 12 of Finance Act 2012 provided for a limited tax deduction for individuals who temporarily carry out the duties of their office or employment in Brazil, Russia, India, China or South Africa. The provision applies as respects the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the first year of the programme was 2012 and the relevant details of tax claims received to date from PAYE employees are as follows.
Numbers of employees availing of the scheme: 12
Relevant Countries: China, India, Russia and South Africa
Number of employers associated with employees availing of the scheme: 10
Amount of tax forgone: €61,000 (amount rounded to nearest €10)
It is possible that not all potential claimants have submitted their claims yet. Also, the figures provided do not include the details for claims that may yet be made in the Form 11 tax returns for 2012 to be filed under the self-assessment system in October/November of 2013.
The deduction was extended to include related travel to Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the 2013 & 2014 tax years. Any further extension of the deduction for work related travel to other countries would be a matter for consideration as part of the Budget and Finance Bill process.