Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

97. To ask the Minister for Finance the way in which the tax relief for working from home can be claimed when there are multiple persons in a household working from home but the bills are only in one person’s name yet they all contribute as a family or in cases in which the person who is claiming the tax relief does not have the household bills in their name; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18018/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Where e-workers incur certain extra expenditure in the performance of their duties of employment remotely or from home, such as additional heating and electricity costs, there is a Revenue administrative practice in place that allows an employer to make payments up to €3.20 per day to such employees, subject to certain conditions, without deducting PAYE, PRSI, or USC. Revenue have confirmed that PAYE workers using their primary residence as a workplace during Covid-19 restrictions qualify as e-workers for the purposes of this practice.

In circumstances where an employer does not pay €3.20 per day to an e-worker, or indeed where an employee incurs costs in excess of the €3.20 per day paid by the employer, I am advised that the employees concerned retain their statutory right to claim a deduction under section 114 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in respect of actual vouched expenses they have incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of their employment. PAYE employees are entitled to claim costs such as additional electricity, heat and broadband in respect of the number of days spent working from home, apportioned on the basis of business and private use.

If an expense is shared between two or more people, the allowable cost being 10% of electricity and heat and 30% of broadband, can be apportioned based on the amount paid by each individual. To claim an allowable e-working expense, the employee must have incurred the cost and it is the responsibility of the employee to retain proof of payment.

PAYE workers can claim e-working expenses by completing an Income Tax return at year end. Revenue advise that the simplest way for taxpayers to claim their e-working expenses and any other tax credit entitlements is by logging into the myAccount facility on the Revenue website.

Finally, Revenue has published detailed guidance on this subject and on the question of how claims for e-working expenses should be calculated and submitted in the Tax and Duty manual TDM 05-02-13 e-Working and Tax, which is available on the Revenue website.