Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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178. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is aware that emergency vehicles are being taken off ambulance officers given the importance of these vehicles to response times; the number of times these officers have been able to respond to incidents within their own communities, given that an issue with benefit-in-kind is being quoted as the reason; the efforts he had made to resolve the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7008/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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An employee is chargeable to tax on the benefit-in-kind (BIK) arising where, by reason of his or her employment, a vehicle is made available (without a transfer of ownership) to him or her and the vehicle is, in the tax year, available either for that individual’s private use or to his or her family or household.

Sections 121 and 121A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA 1997) outline the tax treatment applicable where an employer makes a car or a van available to an employee for his or her private use. Where such a benefit is provided, the employer is required to include that notional payment as part of the employee’s emoluments and to deduct tax through the PAYE system accordingly. There has been no change to the rules relating to the BIK charge which is applicable on employer-provided vehicles, or the pool car exemption available in respect of same.

An employer makes a vehicle available to an employee through:

• the provision of the use of a vehicle, and
• covering any vehicle running costs (such as insurance and petrol) on behalf of the employee.

• the vehicle is available to, and actually used by, more than one of the employees concerned,
• in the case of each employee, the vehicle is made available to him or her by reason of his or her employment,
• the vehicle is not ordinarily used by any one employee to the exclusion of the others,
• in the case of each of the employees concerned, any private use of the vehicle by him or her is merely incidental to his or her business use, and
• the vehicle is not normally kept overnight at or in the vicinity of any of the employees’ homes.

• it is scheduled and verifiable that the officer is obliged to be ‘on call’ outside of his or her normal working hours to respond to situations giving rise to possible contravention of law,
• the officer is provided with a vehicle for this purpose during the periods concerned, and keeps the vehicle overnight at his or her home, and
• the vehicle would, but for the ‘on call’ obligation note above, be a pool vehicle.

In conclusion, there has been no change in rules in relation to this BIK charge. However I am seeking more details from Revenue on the matter.