The Irish Revenue have issued eBrief no. 207/19 which confirms the anticipated changes to their guidance surrounding Short-Term Business Visitors ‘STBV’ into Ireland (please refer to section 4.6).
In summary, with effect from 1 January 2020, for the purposes of determining whether a payroll obligation exists for STBVs in to Ireland, employers are required to consider the number of work days spent in the State in a single year of assessment only. This is a reversal of the onerous requirements issued in 2018 which made tracking Irish workdays across consecutive tax years and even multiple years necessary. Whilst the change highlights that STBV compliance is still on Revenue’s agenda, it is a welcome development, and as well as reducing the number of STBVs triggering Irish PAYE, it should reduce the compliance related administration.
As such, from 1 January 2020, there is automatically no obligation to operate PAYE (i.e. application not required) where all the conditions below have been met:
- Visitor from a country with which Ireland has a DTA
- Less than 60 Irish workdays in the tax year (i.e. calendar year)
- Employed and paid by a foreign employer
- Not Irish tax resident
Note that the wording implies that the change will apply to those travelling from countries with which Ireland has a Double Taxation Agreement, and we await clarity on the non-DTA cases (i.e. the 30 day rule). Revenue have confirmed that further guidance will be issued early in the New Year.
Further information
For further information on the Revenue update above, please contact Thalia O'Toole, Head of Global Mobility, via this form, or check out our related content below.
