Employers paying employees' 2020 tax liability: Article 28 February 2021

Employers paying employees' 2020 tax liability

Revenue will facilitate employers who wish to pay employees' 2020 tax liabilities. This applies to Income Tax (IT) and Universal Social Charge (USC) liabilities which arise due to the TWSS.

Employers must engage directly with employees and agree the method to pay the liability involved.

In mid-January 2021, Revenue will make a Preliminary End of Year Statement for 2020 available for each employee. This will assist in determining the amount of IT and USC due.

All employees, including those who benefited from the TWSS, can view their Preliminary End of Year Statement in MyAccount. Each employee will be able to see if there is an underpayment of IT or USC arising due to the TWSS.

How to pay your employees' tax liabilities

To pay employees' tax liabilities you can:

• provide funds to each employee to meet their IT and USC liabilities, as shown in their Preliminary End of Year Statement. Each employee must then pay their liability via RevPay.
• or
• amend your last payroll submission of 2020. You must add additional 'IT paid' and 'USC paid' that equals the liability shown on the Preliminary End of Year Statement. This must be done for each employee concerned. Some payroll packages do not provide this facility. It may be necessary to enter the information manually through Revenue Online Service (ROS).
  
  You need to pay the additional amounts that are notified via a revised monthly Statement issued by Revenue.
  
  The employee's Preliminary End of Year Statement will be recalculated subsequently. This will show the additional IT and USC liabilities paid directly by you.

For both options above, each employee must complete their 2020 Income Tax Return.

Note

This facility is limited to payments made by employers on behalf of their employees up to end June 2021. This is to avoid any abuse of this arrangement.

Documentation and records

You must retain copies of any documentation and records covering your:

• engagement with your employees about these arrangements
• agreement to undertake these payment arrangements.

Benefit-in-kind

Revenue will not apply Benefit-in-kind rules to these payments you make on behalf of your employees.

Legislation

Employers paying amounts to settle these employee IT liabilities will not receive a deduction under the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, Section 81(2)(a).

These payments would not be regarded as wholly and exclusively incurred for the purposes of the employer’s trade or profession. Furthermore, Section 81(2)(p) specifically denies a deduction in respect of any taxes on income.

From www.revenue.ie