Written answers

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Photo of James LawlessJames Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department will consider documenting travel expenses paid to a separate section of a P60 on request to be used for persons applying for local authority housing loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8901/18]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that currently, following the end of each year, an employer is statutorily obliged to issue to each employee who was employed by them on 31 December a P60 in respect of that year.  The P60 must be issued between 1 January and 15 February and contain details of total taxable pay and deductions made by the employer during the preceding year.

I assume the Deputy is referring to travel expenses which are necessarily incurred by an employee in the performance of the duties of the employment and which are reimbursed by employers without deduction of tax.  The reason employers may reimburse such expenses tax free to employees is because section 114 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 allows for a deduction from taxable emoluments in respect of travelling expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of employment. As such expenses are not subject to deduction of tax under the PAYE system, they are not included on the P60. 

2018 will be the final year in respect of which an employer will be obliged to issue a P60 to employees and I understand from Revenue that the format for the 2018 P60 has recently been finalised.  With significant reform of the PAYE system applying from January 2019 under the PAYE modernisation programme, which will involve a new real-time reporting regime for all employers who make taxable payments to employees, employers will no longer be required to provide employees with a P60.  Instead, Revenue will provide employees with relevant pay and tax details.  I understand from Revenue that there are no proposals to collect information from employers regarding payments to employees which are not subject to deduction under the PAYE system.

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