Bike to work scheme

jasdpace@gmail. said:
How does this work - if at all - for those working from home?!
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The scheme does require that the bike is mainly used by you to travel to work, however, if the bicycle is used for work related journeys, for example trips to the post office or to collect office supplies, that should also suffice. Whether your employer will be on board with that is another thing as they may not want to risk falling foul of revenue. Let us know what they say.
 
Trips to pick up supplies etc. are not covered. From Revenue:

You must mainly use the bicycle and safety equipment for qualifying journeys. This means the whole or part of a journey between your home and your normal place of work.
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Essentially, if you work from home, you aren't eligible for a tax benefit designed to encourage people to ditch the car for the daily commute.
 
I really doubt that many of the bike to work scheme participants who avail of the perk, actually use it for the purpose it was intended.

I say that, because of all the individuals I know of who availed, dont cycle to work.
 
I would say there is widespread abuse of this scheme.
Loads of people, with a compliant employer, can get the forms signed.
Then they go to a , similarly, compliant bike shop.
Buy a load of bikes for the kids and get the tax relief.
Its no biggy, in my eyes, as the essential aim of the scheme is to get people out of cars and using bikes.
 
Allpartied said:
Loads of people, with a compliant employer, can get the forms signed.
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I don't think that's necessary, just that the employer supports the scheme. [edit: reading it again maybe you're specifically referring to those working exclusively from home].

No doubt Leo is correct but for the less scrupulous it's straightforward . . they get a quote for whatever amount up to the Revenue limit, their employer will turn that into a credit voucher paid for by way of salary deduction, go back to the bike shop and buy whatever.
 
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From the Revenue
"Home-based employees can take part in the scheme if the bicycle is used for work-related journeys"
 
This could include cycling to get :
- Beer and/or take away food for Remote team meet ups.
- Tea/Coffee/Sugar/Milk for your morning tea break
- Batteries for your cordless mouse/keyboard/etc..

Am I missing anything?
 
I would argue that if people who work remotely are using it mainly for normal day to day (non work) transport instead of a car (cycling to the supermarket, into town etc as well as the occasional meeting in the office) it's still a positive benefit for society that is worth the tax break!

Using it for kids bikes is a different story and shocking if a bike shop stands over that imo
 
gravitygirl said:
Using it for kids bikes is a different story and shocking if a bike shop stands over that imo
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I think it's a little unfair to single out the bike shop alone after all there could be up to four entities involved in the transaction
The person buying the bike(s), the employer, the bike shop and the voucher company if one is used

From my experience in working in a bike shop, if the shop is not willing to "bend the rules" they will loose the sale as the customer will go down the road to the next bike shop who will gladly accommodate the customer in their wishes
I've seen people from all walks of life from the person in the street, accountants, solicitors, Garda, Government employees including some from Revenue and even a Judge come into the shop to use their voucher for something else than what it was designed for
I'm not saying it's right but nobody "seems" to care what the voucher/cheque is used for as long as it's bike related and after all it's not just a bonus to the individual and increased sales to the bike shop, it's also a little money spinner for the government as well
 
michaelm said:
There seems to be an element of don't ask don't tell to it.
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Some might say that here it's the right kind of people who are doing the tax evading and the false accounting.

Not like those dirty tradesmen, farmers, developers etc...
 
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No one ever checks this,
in reality, to avail of the scheme, you just have to be:

1) an employee
2) have an employer, that participates in the scheme

3) to maximise the tax saving, be paying tax @ 40 %
 
OP here - it's a gas country. So, it seems that for some tax reliefs, the qualifying conditions are, well, the qualifying conditions whilst for other reliefs, these conditions don't matter much. I particularly liked one of the earlier posts whereby we even got into one form of tax evasion being grand but another form being beyond the pale.
 
Why isn't the scheme post purchase ? i.e. claim your tax relief after purchase with supporting invoice, bike serial number and photo. It may encourage a higher level of compliance.
 
seamless said:
Why isn't the scheme post purchase ? i.e. claim your tax relief after purchase with supporting invoice, bike serial number and photo. It may encourage a higher level of compliance.
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The motivation behind the scheme is to sell more bikes and to make bike shops viable. The stuff about cycling to work is window dressing. They don't really care about it being abused by people who don't cycle to work.
 
there's also an element of having more people cycling is good from a population health and climate change perspective. It's not something they're likely to "crack down on".
seamless said:
Why isn't the scheme post purchase ? i.e. claim your tax relief after purchase with supporting invoice, bike serial number and photo. It may encourage a higher level of compliance.
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that sounds like more admin from Revenue's POV which is probably also the reason why the scheme is currently PAYE only.
Ultimately provided people are using the scheme to buy bikes, and aren't taking the piss, they don't care any more than that.
 
Where I work it’s obvious that some people use the BTW scheme to buy bikes for their kids. They drive to work! There are some genuine bike commuters also. I work in public sector.
 
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