Sean Fleming
Question:178. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will review the enhanced reporting requirement for SMEs. [68406/26]
View answerTuesday, 29 September 2026
Questions (178)
Written answers
As the Deputy is aware, section 897C of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 requires employers to report details of certain expenses or benefits made to employees and directors. These requirements are referred to as the enhanced reporting requirements (ERR) and apply equally to all employers.
The detailed reporting of these expenses or benefits commenced by Statutory Instrument with a date of operation from 1 January 2024.
Employers are required to report to Revenue the details of the prescribed benefits and expenses provided ‘on or before’ the date that the employer provides the benefit/makes the payment to the employee. This means that the reporting is done in ‘real time’ and is in line with the approach taken for real-time payroll reporting which was implemented from 1 January 2019.
The reportable benefits relevant to the ERR are:
• the remote working daily allowance of €3.20,
• the payment of travel and subsistence expenses, and,
• the small benefit exemption.
When the legislation to provide for the ERR was introduced in Finance Act 2022, it was subject to a Commencement Order to allow sufficient time for the necessary implementation stakeholder consultation process.
While employers were not previously required to report the details of individual non-taxable benefits, expense payments or perquisites, there was always certain conditionality to be satisfied in order for an employer to provide a tax-free benefit, benefit, or perquisite.
The employer was therefore required to have sufficient controls in place as well as comprehensive supporting documentation and records to substantiate the preferential tax treatment. This detailed information would have been readily available to supply to Revenue upon request.
The ongoing reporting mechanism has been designed so that once verified and approved as a non-taxable payment, the employer now simultaneously reports the details of that payment to Revenue through ERR while processing the payment.
ERR enhances Revenue’s compliance framework to ensure that the correct amount of tax is collected at the right time. It results in optimal efficiency for compliant taxpayers and for Revenue. It is also an important source of data providing valuable information to assist my Department for policy making considerations and tax expenditure reviews.
I acknowledge that various stakeholders have stated that the requirements have increased administrative requirements for taxpayers, in particular for SMEs. That said, there has been very high compliance with ERR. Over 80% of businesses are availing of the integrated reporting that has been built into software systems. This makes the process of reporting as integrated and as seamless as possible.
In addition, Revenue has undertaken extensive stakeholder engagement since the announcement of ERR in Finance Bill 2022. The topic was discussed with practitioners and representative bodies at Tax Administration Liaison Committee (TALC) meetings during 2022 and 2023, and a TALC subgroup was set up specifically to address ERR. Further, Revenue conducted a survey, engaged with employers, their agents and their representative bodies and hosted a series of webinars between September 2023 and June 2024.
I am aware of the recommendations of the Cost of Business Advisory Forum, and my officials are considering same. As the Deputy will be aware, it is a longstanding practice of the Minister for Finance not to comment, in advance of the Budget, on any tax matters that might be the subject of Budget decisions.
Question No. 179 answered with Question No. 159.
Question No. 180 answered with Question No. 139.