Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2021-12-14
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Paul Gavan (SF), Labour Panel

I move recommendation No. 3:
In page 20, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:
“Report on Trans-Border Workers’ Relief in the context of Cross-Border Workers
16. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a comprehensive report on the Trans-Border Workers’ Relief in the context of people who reside in the State and work in the North and the tax status and options of people who reside in the North and work in this State.”.
The issue of transborder workers was raised in the debate on last year's Finance Bill, specifically in the context of people who reside in the State but work in the North and who avail of a domestic tax relief, known as transborder workers' relief, as provided for in section 825A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Transborder workers' relief is for people who are resident in the State but travel daily or weekly to work in another country and pay tax in that other country. This tax relief is not normally available for Irish residents who work from home in the State. In light of the unprecedented circumstances arising due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting public health restrictions to limit movement, for the tax years 2020 and 2021, Revenue confirmed that a concessional treatment for this relief would apply, whereby if employees are required to work from home in the State due to Covid-19, such days working at home in the State will not preclude an individual from being entitled to claim this relief, provided all other conditions of the relief are met.
The relief effectively removes the earnings from a qualifying foreign employment from the liability to Irish tax where foreign tax has been paid on those earnings and such tax is not refundable. The effect of the measure means that individuals who qualify for the relief will not pay any Irish tax on their employment income. Irish tax will only arise where the individual has income other than income from the qualifying foreign employment.
There are a number of criteria that must be satisfied for an employee to be eligible. In particular, the employment duties must be exercised wholly outside of the State in a country with which Ireland has a double taxation agreement. None of the duties of employment can be performed in the State, save those considered incidental to the performance of the duties outside the State.
... it appears impracticable from a legal perspective, in terms of taxing rights, as well as challenging from a policy perspective when having regard to the interests of the wider body of taxpayers encompassing all Irish resident employees and employers, to place the concessional treatment on a statutory footing.
The tax strategy paper reached this conclusion based on issues of taxing rights, equity and competitiveness.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-12-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-12-14