As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government includes a commitment to facilitate and support remote working. The National Remote Work Strategy aims to make remote work a permanent feature of the Irish working experience in a way that maximises the economic, social and environmental benefits.
As part of the national remote working strategy: Making Remote Work, the Tax Strategy Group (TSG) in 2021 reviewed the tax arrangements for remote working in respect of both employees and employers. The TSG paper outlines the effects of Covid-19 on remote working in Ireland, provides an international comparison of remote working tax rules, sets out options for consideration with regard to enhancing the tax arrangements for both employers and employees in respect of remote work and evaluates those options in accordance with the Department of Finance Tax Expenditure Guidelines. The paper is published on the gov.ie website.
There are a number of administrative and legislative provisions under which employees can avail of tax relief in respect of working from home.
Remote workers may incur certain expenditure in the performance of their duties from home, such as additional heating, electricity and broadband expenditure. Revenue operates an administrative practice which allows an employer to make payments up to €3.20 per day to employees who are working from home, subject to certain conditions, without deducting PAYE, PRSI or USC. There is no legal obligation on the employer to make such payment and the payment is at the discretion of the employer. There is no data on the number of employers or employees availing of this provision as there is currently no reporting requirements to Revenue in respect of same.
Furthermore, as the Deputy will be aware, in the 2021 Finance Act, I enhanced and established, on a statutory footing, a tax relief measure for individual remote workers which was previously operated by Revenue on an administrative basis. The new section (contained in section 114A Taxes Consolidated Act 1997) allows remote working individuals, in respect of 2022 and subsequent years of assessment, to claim 30% of electricity, heat and broadband costs, apportioned on the basis of the number of days worked from his or her home during the year. A legislative requirement for the tax relief provided for by section 114A TCA 1997 is that receipts must be submitted with the claim (i.e. the utility bills must be electronically uploaded).
As the Deputy will appreciate, individuals are, generally speaking, well accustomed to supplying receipts to vouch expenditure in order to claim refunds of monies in other areas. For example, claiming refunds of medical expenses from health insurers are typically done on this basis. A similar model operates for tax refund claims in respect of remote working expenses and, I am advised that, Revenue has sought to make the submission of such claims as easy as possible for taxpayers.
Employees can make a claim for remote working relief in one of two ways:
1. End of year claim - Where a taxpayer claims remote working expenses by completing an Income Tax return at year end, he or she can upload supporting documentation via the Revenue Receipts Tracker. He or she can opt to save the information to Revenue storage where it will prefill his or her tax return to assist in the completion and filing of the return. Valid receipts saved to Revenue storage do not need to be retained by the taxpayer for 6 years.
2. Real-time claim - by using the My Account facility. Revenue advises that the simplest way for taxpayers to claim their remote working expenses and any other tax credit entitlements is by logging into the MyAccount facility on the Revenue website. Revenue has provided a real-time facility available to claim remote working relief for 2022 when the expense is incurred. To avail of the credit in real-time the taxpayer is required to upload the receipt details and a readable image of his or her receipt(s) to the Receipts Tracker in MyAccount at the time of making the claim.
The number of PAYE individuals who have claimed remote working relief to date in respect of 2021 is over 81,800. Regarding self-assessed taxpayers, 2020 is the year for which the latest information is available and approximately 23,300 taxpayer units have made claims for remote working relief on the income tax return form (Form 11) for that year. It should be noted that as taxpayers have 4 years in which to make a claim for the relief, these figures will increase further.
Regarding the 2022 tax year, from available information, around 3,000 PAYE individuals have made real-time claims for remote working relief to date. This figure is also likely to increase between now and the end of the year. However, it is expected that most claims for the relief for 2022 will be made after the end of the year.
It should be noted that Revenue has published detailed guidance on this matter on their website, with comprehensive information available in Tax and Duty Manual 05-02-13 Remote Working Relief together with a short video. The manual is available at: www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-05/05-02-13.pdf
Furthermore, guidance on how to register for My Account is available at: www.revenue.ie/en/online-services/services/register-for-an-online-service/register-for-myaccount.aspx
Overall, I am satisfied with the arrangements in place currently in relation to tax relief for expenses associated with remote working but, in keeping with my Department's Tax Expenditure guidelines, the matter will be kept under review.
