Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The section deals with online or cross-Border mergers. Can the Minister outline to us please what this technical amendment does? While we are dealing with cross-Border mergers, I am aware that the Minister had a lengthy discussion yesterday on cross-Border workers. Arising from last year’s Finance Bill the Minister agreed to look at this in a tax strategy paper and that, I believe, has been done and there is further work to be done on that area.

I do not want to go into that because it was dealt with yesterday and I will revisit that on Report Stage but I want to make one point. The relief that is available at this point in time for cross-Border workers during the pandemic runs out at the end of this year. That means that they will be double taxed if they are working from home. The guidance, as announced last night, to take effect this weekend is for those workers to work at home. Therefore, if they are still in a position where the Government, as a result of the pandemic, is asking them to work from home, they will be subject to double taxation. This again highlights the need for this having to be at least extended. We need to find a wider all-island solution to this issue where workers, for different reasons such as a sick child or whatever, are working from home. Can I ask the Minister to respond to that specific question? Will he ensure that the provisions that are in place for cross-Border workers to be able to work from home and not to be subject to double taxation will continue into 2022?