Don’t take our €150 welly tax allowance!
A UNION said its members needed to buy wellies, sun cream, and an umbrella in a plea to save a tax allowance that faced the axe by the Revenue Commissioners.
However, the Revenue went ahead with plans to abolish a range of so-called ‘flat rate’ expenses last year, saying the tax break for agricultural advisers, actors and shop assistants could no longer be justified.
Internal records – obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday – reveal that Revenue first asked each union to justify retention of the rates, which can give tax relief on up to €2,500 per year. In correspondence with Siptu – which represent more than 100 agricultural advisers – a list of items were given to justify the advisers keeping their €671 allowance. Siptu said the consultants could spend upwards of €1,700 a year on kit, with €200 spent on laundering dirty clothes.
They needed two pairs of wellies every year, each costing €75, an umbrella costing €50, sunglasses estimated at €100 a pair, and €50 for sun cream. Because they spend so much time in farmyards, they also need €70 for valeting cars, along with disposable gloves, a torch, and a suit for conference presentations, according to the submission.
In their response, the Revenue said that the expenses involved had to be incurred ‘wholly, exclusively, and necessarily’ in their jobs. ‘The legislative basis underpinning the deductability of expenses does not support the expenses outlined in your letter,’ they said.
Also affected as part of the review of flat rate allowances were shop assistants. Union Mandate argued that more than 200,000 people are employed in the sector in Ireland.
Union officials said the €121 allowance helped staff buy uniforms – usually black trousers or skirts and white shirts – which were rarely provided by bosses and were obligatory in contracts.
Minutes of a meeting between Mandate and Revenue describe how the union called the changes a ‘stealth cut against the lowest paid workers’.
Other professionals facing the axing of their allowance were actors. Their representative group, Equity, said actors usually claim for agent fees, show-reels headshots, make-up and hair for auditions, as well as theatre and cinema tickets.
The Revenue Commissioners said the flat rate allowance system had developed over five decades and had grown to cover 134 different categories of ‘flat rate’ expenses.
Revenue said the purpose of the review was to ensure the allowances were ‘still appropriate to modern-day work practices’.
They said that in the interests of fairness, none of the flat rate allowances would be abolished until 2020, by which time all of them will have been re-examined.
‘Stealth cut against the lowest paid’