These are the new reporting rules that Irish businesses need to know about in 2024

If you’re a business operating in Ireland, there’s more to think about this January than New Year’s resolutions. As of 1st January 2024, you’ll need to take into consideration some enhanced reporting requirements regarding payments made to certain employees and directors. To make your life easier, we’ve wrapped up the key changes coming into effect to help you get on top of things before the January deadline.

What’s changing?

From January onwards, you’ll need to report more benefits and payments than you were previously required to. This new legislation is part of Finance Act 2022 and introduces Section 897C of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. We’re talking things like travel expenses and remote work allowances. 

In the first phase, there are three specific payments you’ll have to start reporting. And these will need to be reported before employees are paid.

Small benefit exemption

You must submit details of the date paid and value of this benefit. Announced in 2022, this law states that you can give employees up to two small benefits up to the value of €1,000 each year, tax-free. Just beware of these catches:

• The benefits cannot be cash or part of salary
• Vouchers or benefits given cannot be redeemed in cash

Whereas before, you didn’t have to report these benefits, now you do.

Remote working daily allowance

With the reliance on working from home having increased since Covid 19, the number of people being paid a remote working daily allowance has gone up drastically. By law, companies can pay remote employees up to €3.20 without deducting tax, insurance, or social charges. Anything above this amount is taxable.

Paying your staff a remote working daily allowance? You’ll need to report the following:

• Total number of days worked
• Amount paid, and
• Date paid
  

Travel and subsistence

If you have employees who travel regularly for work – whether to client sites or to events overseas – you probably pay them expenses when they’re on the road. For example, you’d make sure they’re reimbursed for meals, drinks and accommodation while travelling for work.

From January, you must submit the following travel and subsistence items, including the date paid and amount of each payment for:

• Travel vouched
• Travel unvouched
• Subsistence vouched
• Subsistence unvouched
• Site-based employees (including “Country money”)
• Emergency travel, and
• Eating on site.

Why are these regulations being introduced?

Ireland is fast becoming an international business hub, with big brands like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn all basing their European HQs there. So making sure companies are staying compliant with tax regulations is essential.

The hope is that these new regulations will help to save the government time by directing resources away from employers who are compliant, and towards those who aren’t following the rules. New streams of information will also provide the Department of Finance with high quality data and increase visibility for employees over which payments are taxable and non-taxable.

Bear in mind that failing to comply with this new legislation can lead to penalties and reputational damage, putting your business at risk.

How to submit this information

You can submit all of this information using the Revenue Online Service tool. As the name suggests, it’s an online, digital tool, so it’s a good idea to wave goodbye to paper processes if you’re still relying on them. Paper files can get lost and entering data manually can lead to a higher risk of human error, creating problems with your expense claims.

Your business needs to be ready to start reporting these payments by January 2024, so don’t wait until it’s too late. Don't worry – Pleo can help make the move to digital reporting easier. 

As your all-in-one spend management solution, Pleo can help to simplify everything from expenses to subscriptions and invoices. Give employees who spend frequently their own Pleo card, and all they need to do is upload a photo of the receipt and add a tag or category to provide context to the finance team. Then, you’ll have a clear record of who’s spent what and when. Stamp out time-consuming expense claims and prevent employees from being out-of-pocket with our handy Reimbursements feature. You won't even need to reimburse employees or report these payments to Revenue – these expenses will just form part of your normal business costs.

Changes like these make managing your expenses and spending in a compliant way even more important. Get in touch with Pleo before the deadline if you want to get a grip of your company spending in time for 2024.

FAQ

If I pay for client lunch on my company Pleo card, does that have to be reported? Or only if I pay on my personal card and the company reimburses me?

It's only reportable if you use your own personal account and then your company reimburses you. Using a Pleo card is essentially using company funds so it's not reportable.

Will reporting on or before the date of transaction be a problem when staff can self-reimburse for out-of-pocket expenses?

Yes, it will. The current guidance is that reporting to Revenue must be on or before the date the reimbursement is made.

What are the implications of non compliance? Or working retrospectively?

There's no direct guidance from Revenue yet, but this is due to come in 2024.

If a company does not offer company credit cards but reimburses expenses, must this be reported?

Yes, all direct transfers outside of payroll from employer to employee will eventually be reportable.

Is Pleo's temporary card available to all Pleo accounts or only those who pay a fee?

Temporary cards are only available to customers on Advanced plans.

Regarding small benefit vouchers issued for Christmas 2023, are these also reportable, or only from 2024?

These are reportable only from 1st January 2024.

What happens if you have a mix of employees who submit vouched and unvouched expenses?

All vouched and unvouched payments will need to be reported.

Will reimbursement of private mileage rate per KM require revenue reporting?

According to the Revenue website, yes.

Are Per Diems reportable?

If they are reimbursed, yes. If provided upfront, no.

If a company uses Xero and an employee takes a photo of an invoice with Pleo, will this invoice image integrate directly in to Xero along with all of the details?

Yes, that's all part of our real-time integration with Xero (and other accounting partners).

In terms of the small benefit exemption, are there any tax implications for employees now that it'll be reported? Or are they still entitled to up to €1,000 tax-free?

Employees are still entitled to a tax-free €1,000 but Revenue now want to know about it.

What about in-office meals an employer provides to staff, are these reportable?

This isn't a reportable transaction under the new guidance.

Some employees have Pleo cards so there's no need to report to Revenue. However, Directors do not have Pleo cards and claim expenses on a very ad hoc basis. Do companies have to report on a monthly basis (even with zero to declare) or report when expenses are to be paid?

You might want to give directors a Pleo card to avoid additional reporting. But the guidance is to report on or before the date the cash reimbursement is made.

How will the reporting work and what are the requirements?

Reporting is done via ROS system and can be manually completed. In the future, there will be tools available to automate this.

How mandatory is this reporting for employers?

It's mandatory for all employers who reimburse under ERR criteria.

What about reporting in foreign currencies?

Reporting will all be done in Euros.

How are Irish Customers using Pleo to help with the new regulations?

Using Pleo's prepaid cards and temporary virtual cards (available to customers on Advanced plans) you can avoid the need for reporting.

How can I contact a Pleo Account Manager with queries?

Please email Sean.Rowley@pleo.io.