Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have asked the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to examine that as part of the legislation. Employers have approached me, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and have told me that they want to pay their staff a pandemic bonus from their own resources, but that if they do so their staff could lose perhaps half of it in tax. I have asked the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to examine that as an option. It is already possible for employers to pay up to €500 per year in the form of a bonus that is tax free, but it has to be done in a particular way and it cannot go above €500. Perhaps, as a one-off measure, we might allow that to go to €1,000. I have asked the Minister to look at that in the context of that law.

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