Revenue has issued guidance on the tax treatment of e-workers and remote workers.
eWorking:
eWorking is where an employee works:
- at home on a full or part-time basis
- part of the time at home and the remainder in the normal place of work
- while on the move, with visits to the normal place of work.
eWorking involves:
- working for substantial periods outside the normal place of work
- logging onto a work computer remotely
- sending and receiving email, data or files remotely
- developing ideas, products and services remotely.
Home expenses payment:
You can make a payment of €3.20 per workday to an eWorker employee without deducting:
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
- Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI)
- Universal Social Charge (USC).
This payment is to cover expenses such as heating and electricity costs.
If your employee’s costs are higher and you repay these expenses, records of the payments made must retained by you.
Your employees may instead choose to make a claim online at the end of the tax year. To do this, they must submit receipts to their local Revenue office using MyEnquiries which is available through MyAccount.
These arrangements only apply to eWorker employees. They do not apply to staff who bring work home outside of normal working hours.
