Revenue eBrief No. 138/19

Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06 has been updated to:

• Incorporate material previously in Tax and Duty Manuals Part 05-02-04 (Employees’ Subsistence Expenses) and Part 05-02-05 (Employees’ Motoring/Bicycle Expenses)
• Update Standard Domestic Subsistence Rates with effect from 1 July 2019.

Extract:

1.Introduction

This manual explains the tax treatment of reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses to employees (including directors).In practice, one of two scenarios will generally arise:

1.The employer does not reimburse an employee for the cost of travel and subsistence, or

2.The employer reimburses an employee for the cost of travel and subsistence.In the first scenario, an employee may claim a tax deduction for travel and subsistence wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in performing the duties of her/his employment by submitting a claim to her/his Revenue office.

Claims for these expenses should be made after 31 December of the year in which they were incurred. The claim form for car expenses is available on the Revenue website.

Where the second scenario applies, this manual sets out the circumstances under which such reimbursement may be made free of tax.

Whilst the reimbursement to an office holder or employee of expenses of travel andsubsistence is a matter for the relevant body or employer, a separate and distinct issue is the circumstances under which such reimbursement can be made without deduction of tax.

This manual sets out the tax treatment of the reimbursement of expenses of traveland subsistence to office holders (including directors) and employees to ensure a consistent approach that takes into account the necessity of business travel fordifferent categories of office holders and employees.

Whilst it is not possible to address all the circumstances that may arise, the manual deals with the main issues as follows:

Chapter 2 sets out thegeneral principles relating to the tax treatment of thereimbursement of expenses of travel and subsistence;

Chapter 3 addresses the general scenarios relating to the reimbursement of expenses of travel and subsistence; and

Chapter 4 addresses the reimbursement of expenses of travel andsubsistence in certain specific scenarios.

Note – Where circumstances arise that are not covered by this manual, guidance maybe sought from the Revenue office dealing with the employer.