Sep 2014
22
Irish Employers - show your staff your appreciation!
Have you employees with 20 plus years of service? If so why not say thank you with a gift.
Revenue Commissioners offer tax relief on long service awards, which is considered to be at least 20 years of service. Tax relief on long service awards can be in addition to the small benefit exemption.
Employers can reward employees for long service with tangible articles with a value up to a maximum of €50 per year of service, starting at 20 years of service and every 5 years thereafter.
20 years of service – value up to €1,000
25 years of service – value up to €1,250
30 years of service – value up to €1,500
35 years of service – value up to €1,750
The award must be a tangible article e.g. a gold watch, it does not apply to awards made in cash.
Tax will not be charged provided:
• The cost to the employer does not exceed €50 per year of service
• The award is made in respect of service not less than 20 years
• No similar award has been made to the recipient within the previous 5 years
Where any of the conditions are not met PAYE, PRSI & USC must be applied on the full amount.
This concession applies to directors as well as employees.
Full details can be found on Revenue’s website www.revenue.ie
Sep 2014
12
Irish Employers - Lump Sum Payments that qualify for tax relief
The following redundancy and retirement payments, although not completely tax exempt; do qualify for some relief.
• Wages / Salary in lieu of notice on retirement or redundancy.
• Payment paid by your employer which is additional to the statutory redundancy payment. This additional payment is known as an ex-gratia payment or golden handshake and is up to certain statutory limits.
If your employer provides all or part of the lump sum in another form e.g. car, holiday, etc. the cash value of this item is taxable.
If this lump sum is on the termination of a contract this payment is chargeable to tax in the normal way.
If an employer pays for the cost of retraining an employee as part of a redundancy package, up to €5000 of the retraining cost is exempt from tax. The following conditions apply:
• The employee has more than 2 years continuous full time service
• The retraining is completed within 6 months of the redundancy
• The retraining is designed to improve skills/knowledge to assist in obtaining employment or setting up a business
• The employee cannot take cash instead and must avail of the retraining.
The tax exemption will not apply to dependents, spouse or civil partner of the employer.
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Sep 2014
2
All Good Things Must Come to an End
I guess the old saying that "all good things must come to an end" is true. We learned this first hand in the Thesaurus Software office last week when we had to say goodbye to one of our most valued colleagues, Gerri McGinley.
Gerri began working for Thesaurus Software almost 14 years ago when she began her role as a customer support agent. Ever since, Gerri has been a dedicated, fun-loving, team-player and has been a great asset to the customer support team. We will long remember the hard work and happy moments we have shared.
The final farewell took place on Saturday night when the Thesaurus Software team gathered for Gerri’s retirement dinner. Not only was Gerri a colleague, but a friend to everyone here at the office. Although it is sad to see her leave, we wish Gerri every success in the future.
