Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2026
392. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to outline impacts of the Revenue Commissioners case (details supplied) on the arts sector; if he will provide specific guidance via his own Department, the Arts Council or other relevant bodies to the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9665/26]
View answer403. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will comment on the impact of the Revenue Commissioners case (details supplied) on workers in the arts sector, particularly concerning employee and contractor classifications pursuant to the recent Revenue guidelines for determining employment status for taxation purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9667/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 392 and 403 together.
On 20 October 2023, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgment in the Revenue Commissioners v Karshan (Midlands) Ltd. t/a Domino’s Pizza case. The case was concerned with whether delivery drivers were independent contractors under a “contract for service” and taxable under Schedule D of the Taxes Consolidation Tax 1997, or employees under a “contract of service”, and taxable under Schedule E of the Act (PAYE). The Supreme Court upheld the Tax Appeals Commission determination that the delivery drivers were employees of the company.
The decision of the Supreme Court sets out a five-step framework that must be applied by reference to the facts and circumstances of an individual case, to ascertain whether an individual is an employee, or self-employed, for the purpose of taxation.
While the judgment related to a company engaging individuals as delivery drivers, as a decision of the Supreme Court, the judgment has application across all sectors, including the arts sector.
I am advised that Revenue cannot disregard the implications of a Supreme Court judgement, nor would they seek to. While there has been no recent change to tax policy or tax treatment in this area, as a decision of the Supreme Court, the judgement is binding and must be applied to all sectors and all businesses operating in Ireland.
Following the judgement, Revenue published detailed guidance in May 2024 in its Tax And Duty Manual Revenue Guidelines for Determining Employment Status for Taxation Purposes Part 05-01-30 www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-05/05-01-30.pdf. This guidance explains the five step framework that is required to be applied by all businesses who engage individuals to carry out work and provides a number of practical examples to assist businesses and organisations in this regard. Within this guidance, Revenue encouraged all businesses to “comprehensively review arrangements with all workers and determine their employment status for taxation purposes”. The guidance applies to all sectors, including businesses engaging workers in the arts sector.
Revenue recognised that prior to the judgment in October 2023, some employers, acting in good faith, may have misclassified employees for tax purposes as persons engaged in contracts for services. It was in this context that on 11 September 2025, Revenue announced a disclosure opportunity to incentivise such employers to make a disclosure in respect of 2024 and 2025 arising from bona-fide classification errors.
The Karshan disclosure opportunity was available to all employers in the State and across all sectors including the arts sectors, provided that they meet the terms as outlined in the disclosure initiative. To avail of the settlement terms outlined, all disclosures were to be submitted to Revenue no later than 30 January 2026.
The Deputy should note that as the judgement applies across all sectors, and the subsequent Karshan disclosure initiative was available to all sectors equally, including the arts sector, Revenue have not issued letters to any particular sectors in relation to the Karshan disclosure initiative.
However, Revenue has engaged via the Tax Administration Liaison Committee (TALC) Audit with the professional tax advisor, accounting and legal bodies who are members of TALC on the Karshan disclosure initiative and also participated in an Irish Tax Institute (ITI) Tax Talks podcast to discuss the initiative.
In addition, where individual businesses or representative bodies have contacted Revenue with queries in relation to the Karshan disclosure initiative, Revenue has engaged with these entities on any queries raised.
