Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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208. To ask the Minister for Finance the year in which the remote working relief was set at the current rate of €3.20; the inflation in Ireland since that year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45477/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that there are a number of administrative and legislative provisions under which employers can support employees in working from home.

Employees may incur certain expenditure in the performance of their duties working from home, such as additional heating, electricity, and broadband costs. Revenue operates a long-standing administrative practice which allows an employer to make payments up to €3.20 to employees, for each day worked from home, subject to certain conditions, without deducting PAYE, PRSI or USC. There is no legal obligation on an employer to make such a payment, as it is at the discretion of the employer.

The home-working allowance originated in 1993; according to the CSO's CPI Inflation Calculator, the inflation rate in Ireland since January 1993 is 81 per cent which, if applied to the €3.20 rate, would amount to €5.79 today.

As the Deputy may be aware, my Department reviewed the tax arrangements for remote working as part of the 2021 Tax Strategy Group process and published the resultant paper on the Department's website. The review found that the daily tax-free rate of €3.20, up to €16 per week or €832 per annum compares favourably internationally. For example, in the UK, the weekly rate is just £6 per week or a maximum of £312 per annum.

Where an employer does not pay €3.20 per day to a remote worker, or that amount doesn’t sufficiently cover the additional cost borne by the employee as a result of working from home, the employee may be entitled to claim Remote Working Relief, which is provided for in section 114A of the Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997. This measure allows employees, subject to satisfying certain conditions, to claim an income tax deduction amounting to 30% of the relevant cost of electricity, heating and broadband for the days spent working from home as a remote worker.

Revenue has advised that the provision of equipment, such as computers, printers, scanners and office furniture by the employer to enable the employee work from home will not attract a benefit-In-kind charge, where the equipment is provided primarily for business use. In addition, the provision of a telephone line, broadband and such facilities for business use will also not give rise to a benefit-in-kind charge, where private use of the connection is incidental. These exemptions are provided for in section 118 TCA 1997.

Finally, comprehensive guidance material on the range of measures available to remote workers is published on the Revenue website. Detailed material is included in Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-02-13 Remote Working Relief, which is available at: www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-05/05-02-13.pdf.