Are you an employer struggling to get your head around the recent updates to the reporting requirements? Well, look no further as we break down what’s expected of you following the implementation of the Finance Act 2022 (s 897C).

From January 1 2024, all and any employer will be expected to report details of certain payments made to employees and directors – this action falls under a new term labelled Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR).

So why are you being told to operate under this new requirement? It is thought that this information will:

• Enable the Revenue’s Compliance Intervention Framework to direct resources away from compliant employers;
• Provide quality data to support policy decisions by the Department of Finance;
• Provide information to employees in relation to non-taxable payments.

Let’s dive in and understand what the payments covered and the required details are…

Small Benefit Exemption Payments

A Small Benefit Exemption relates to the annual acquisition of vouchers or other non-cash benefits, tax-free.  Details of the date paid and the value of the benefit are required to be reported..

Remote Working Daily Allowance

Employers can make a payment of €3.20 to employees, for each day spent working from home – subject to certain conditions being satisfied – without the need to deduct PAYE, PRSI or USC.  The total number of days, the amount paid and the date of the payment must be reported.

Travel and Subsistence*

For each of the following headings an employer will be required to provide the date paid and the amount of the payment:

• Travel vouched
• Travel unvouched
• Subsistence vouched
• Subsistence unvouched
• Site-based employees (including Country Money)
• Emergency travel
• Eating on site

This information should be reported to the Revenue before/at the time of making the payment and current indications are that it can be included as part of the regular payroll reporting.

For the moment, the above are the only items which need to be reported, however, the Revenue has reserved the right to expand this to cover other items as they deem appropriate.

How can I comply?

You can make sure you’re meeting requirements by visiting the Revenue Online Service (ROS) – which provides a means of manually submitting this information.

In addition, many payroll service providers are working with the Revenue to ensure that their systems can provide the information as part of the regular payroll uploads.

To facilitate either of these options, an employer needs to ensure that they have an appropriate method of capturing all the required information. Once that’s done, they will then need to be input directly on ROS or provided to the individual/third party responsible for maintaining the payroll services.

This may result in additional costs depending on the volume of work required and should be discussed with any third-party service in advance.

Not quite sure and would like a helping hand? Get in touch and let’s chat about how we can be of any assistance in relation to this enhanced requirement.

*For more information on travel and subsistence see https://rmnaccounting.ie/travel-and-expenses/