Navigating Revenue's new Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR) for Expenses and Benefits: What You Need to Know for 2024, plus some other small payroll changes
Just a few payroll changes, as well as Expense/Benefit reporting (ERR) for the new year, 2024 to bring to your attention:
1 Enhanced Reporting Requirements (ERR), from the 1st January 2024
From the 1st January 2024, all employers will be required to make returns of all taxable benefits and expenses to employees/directors in real time to the Revenue under Enhanced Reporting Requirements.
The Finance Act 2022 introduced the requirement for all employers to report to the Revenue certain payments made to directors and employees known as reportable benefits. The commencement order for this has now been signed by the Minister for Finance.
For the avoidance of doubt, the reportable benefits required to be reported from the 1st January next are as follows:
The Small Benefit Exemption – these are the vouchers provided to employees/directors (currently up to two benefits can be provided each year, as long as the combined value does not exceed €1,000).
Travel and Subsistence – payments to employees/directors to reimburse business related travel and subsistence costs and includes the following:
Vouched travel and subsistence
Unvouched travel and subsistence
Country money
Emergency travel
Eating on-site allowance
Remote Working Daily Allowance – this is where the employer makes a tax-free payment of €3.20 per day to employees for each day worked from home subject to conditions.
Only the three benefits above will be required to be reported in the first phase of ERR, but it is expected that further benefits/payments will be added by the Revenue in later phases.
The details of the benefit or payments must be submitted electronically to the Revenue on or before its payment date to the employee/director. In the case of each of the above, you will be required to report the employee details, the amount paid & the date paid and in the case of the remote working daily allowance, the number of days worked from home/remotely.
There will of course be Revenue checks and penalties for non-compliance, but the Revenue have advised they will be taking “a service for compliance approach until the 30th June 2024”. During this 6-month period, they will not operate any compliance checks or seek to apply penalties for non-compliance.
The benefits and payments are reportable irrespective of how they are reimbursed to the employee/director, whether they are reimbursed through the payroll, by bank transfer or from petty cash. In the case of travel expenses, if an employer pays for flights directly for an employee (not through reimbursement), these travel expenses are not reportable benefits. Likewise, if an employee/director has the use of a company fuel card or a company credit card, this is not a reportable expense either (for now). Enhanced Reporting Requirements are relevant where an employee/director has been reimbursed by the business/employer.
Not to worry, we will have procedures in place to help and assist you with the reporting and submission of expenses & benefits from the 1st January. Any questions on this in the meantime, you can of course contact me.
2 The Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage will increase to €12.70 per hour (for all employees over 20 years of age) from the 1st January 2024.
3 Statutory Sick Leave
The number of statutory sick leave days will increase to 5 days from the 1st January 2024.
4 Changes to PRSI
The upper age limit for exemption from PRSI is being raised from 66 to 70 years for employees and self-employed, with effect from the 1st January 2024. From this date, all employees and self-employed persons will continue to be liable for PRSI until they have been awarded the state pension (contributory). For those who have already reached age 66 by the 1st January, their PRSI position will be unchanged.
We hope you find this information useful. If you have any questions on any of the above, feel free to contact us.
Timothy Kelliher & Company Limited
Chartered Accountants
Landline/WhatsApp: +353 (0) 64 6632105
Email: info@timothykelliher.ie
