New accounting technician apprenticeship scheme
WICKLOW is one of the counties where new jobs will be created under a new apprenticeship programme.
The Accounting Technician Apprenticeship is a funded workplace programme where applicants can earn and learn at the same time through a two-year training programme.
The scheme is open to Leaving Cert students, school leavers and graduates and is expected to create up to 150 jobs.
Accounting technician apprentices work four days a week with a registered employer and study one day a week with a partner college on a two-year employment contract, which begins in September.
Apprentices earn at least €19,700 per year and receive paid study leave, supported by the employer. Apprentices’ college tuition is fully funded through SOLAS and they also receive guidance from a mentor.
The programme leads to an Advanced Certificate in Accounting. Graduates can then continue with their studies with professional accountancy bodies such as Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Employees: Many employees who were getting Unemployment Benefit are now returning to work. As they have not been paid by the employer for two months, they will have unused Tax Credits coming forward. The result will be a PAYE refund in the first week back at work. However, this will be short-term gain as tax is going to arise after the end of the tax year on the Unemployment Benefit received free of tax when paid out. If an employee wants to avoid a PAYE refund in the first week back they can go onto the Revenue website – MyAccount.ie – and change their tax basis to what is called Week 1. This means that they will get one fifty-second on their annual credits each week.
Many people who work in office situations using computers are now working from home. Under the Revenue rules, the employers can pay the employee up to €3.20 per day without deducting tax. Any greater daily payment then tax must be deducted. The scope for reimbursement is not attractive with such a low tax-free amount.
A better proposal is for the employer to pay the cost of the employee’s Phone and Broadband for the duration of the lockdown. Also, the employer can provide the employee with computers, printers and scanners for the home worker. The life of such equipment is short so that a complete write-off in a few years’ time in the employer’s accounts is unlikely to be challenged.
An employee working at home is not entitled to any travel expenses if they have to attend the employer’s office, say once a week, as the base for the employment remains the employer’s office and the home is merely a temporary base. However, if very considerable travel is involved the Revenue may be prepared to agree a compromise.
Employers: Taxes due to Revenue for PAYE and VAT can now be deferred due to cash-flow problems with the Covid-19 Emergency.
The tax periods involved are for VAT January 2020 to June 2020 and for PAYE from February 2020 to June 2020.
The Revenue calls this facility the ‘Revenue Warehousing Tax Forbearance Scheme’. The tax debts involved will be deferred for a 12-month period with no enforcement, no interest and no issues with a Tax Clearance Certificate.
However, timely Returns must be made and Current Liabilities and Returns must be kept up to date. When the 12-month period is over, Revenue will allow Instalment Arrangements to clear the Warehoused Debts, with an interest rate of 3% per annum instead of the normal 8% per annum.
The legislation to underpin all the Covid-19 Emergency rules will not be enacted until a new Government is formed. At that stage, the measures needed to meet the extraordinary cost involved will be announced. One can expect the USC (Universal Service Charge) to rise.