Tax free vouchers having two employers

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callybags

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I can't find a definite answer on www.revenue.ie.

If a person is on the payroll of two employers, can they received a voucher worth €1,000 tax free from both employers?

My gut instinct says no, but would be interested to see if it is specified anywhere by revenue, or in legislation.
 
I have a variation on the same question. I have already given myself a €1,000 voucher from my company. However, I have a dormant company with €15,000 cash in it. Can that company also give me a voucher for €1,000 - even though I did not pay myself any salary from the company in 2022.
 
CuriousCork said:
I have a variation on the same question. I have already given myself a €1,000 voucher from my company. However, I have a dormant company with €15,000 cash in it. Can that company also give me a voucher for €1,000 - even though I did not pay myself any salary from the company in 2022.
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I do know you have to be on the payroll of the company giving the voucher, so in your case you couldn't get one tax free from the dormant company.
 
callybags said:
My gut instinct says no, but would be interested to see if it is specified anywhere by revenue, or in legislation.
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Revenue guidance refers entirely to the obligations of the employer, not the employee. I don't see any problem - if you have two genuine employers - from receiving a gift from both up to the €1,000 limit.

CuriousCork said:
I have already given myself a €1,000 voucher from my company. However, I have a dormant company with €15,000 cash in it.
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To me this sounds contrived and you would fall foul of section 811 TCA anti-avoidance rules.
 
CuriousCork said:
I have a variation on the same question. I have already given myself a €1,000 voucher from my company. However, I have a dormant company with €15,000 cash in it. Can that company also give me a voucher for €1,000 - even though I did not pay myself any salary from the company in 2022.
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You are not an employee of the company, so no
 
I have another variation of this question. I provide consulting services to a number of businesses. Two of them just bought me One4All vouchers for €250 & €200 respectively as a thank you for the services rendered during the year. What's the craic with these as a sole trader? Can I avail of the €1,000 exemption or what way should I treat them? I've queried it with my accountant but just wondering if anyone has encountered anything like this here.
 
24601 said:
I have another variation of this question. I provide consulting services to a number of businesses. Two of them just bought me One4All vouchers for €250 & €200 respectively as a thank you for the services rendered during the year. What's the craic with these as a sole trader? Can I avail of the €1,000 exemption or what way should I treat them? I've queried it with my accountant but just wondering if anyone has encountered anything like this here.
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Open to correction, but I would think you will have to declare them as income. It is specified that you must be on the payroll of the company giving the vouchers.
 
In my view, someone cannot receive multiple €1,000 vouchers from multiple employers.

Section 112B TCA 1997 deals with the scheme and Subsection (1)(d) currently states that;

“not more than one voucher or benefit can be given to that employee in any year of assessment”

The Finance Bill is changing “one” to “two” and elsewhere changing “€500” to “€1,000”.

Now one could argue that “by that employer” is implied, which might open up the possibility of people with multiple employments receiving multiple vouchers. I wouldn’t agree with that. In my view, it means that only one voucher (soon to be two) totalling €1,000 can be issued to any person.
 
The Finance Bill is adding the following:

“ ‘qualifying incentive’ means a relevant incentive that is the first or the second relevant incentive given to an employee in a year of assessment where—
(a) in the case of a first relevant incentive, the value does not exceed €1,000, and
(b) in the case of a second relevant incentive, the cumulative value of the first and second relevant incentives does not exceed €1,000;

Again, I think the absence of “by that employer” means that people can’t get €1,000 from different employers.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Now one could argue that “by that employer” is implied, which might open up the possibility of people with multiple employments receiving multiple vouchers. I wouldn’t agree with that. In my view, it means that only one voucher (soon to be two) totalling €1,000 can be issued to any person.
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No employer can reasonably be expected to know whether an employee has another employer and/or said employer is providing a voucher.

At the same time there is no legal obligation on an employee to reject a voucher from a second employer or to declare it to Revenue.

In the absence of such obligations it seems reasonable to assume that an employee can receive gifts from >1 employer once each is <€1,000.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
No employer can reasonably be expected to know whether an employee has another employer and/or said employer is providing a voucher.

At the same time there is no legal obligation on an employee to reject a voucher from a second employer or to declare it to Revenue.

In the absence of such obligations it seems reasonable to assume that an employee can receive gifts from >1 employer once each is <€1,000.
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In the scenarios which have given rise to the queries, the people literally own their own companies.

You’re now entering into the realms of “Whataboutery”.

In my view, the legislation says that someone can’t get multiple €1,000s from multiple employers.

“Sure how will anyone know?” hardly constitutes coherent thought.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
In the scenarios which have given rise to the queries, the people literally own their own companies.
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Not in the OP's case where at face value the person simply has two jobs. This is not common but not rare either.

Gordon Gekko said:
In my view, the legislation says that someone can’t get multiple €1,000s from multiple employers.
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Based on a rather stretched semantic interpretation of the term "by that employer" and despite the complete absence of any obligation on an employee to refuse or declare a gift from a second employer.

Say you work for Company A and receive a €500 voucher in June and cease employment with company A on 30 June. You start work with Company B and receive a €1,000 vouch on 31 December. Employee and employer have acted in good faith and it stretches credulity to assume there is some uncodified rule obliging you to refuse half of the second voucher.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
Not in the OP's case where at face value the person simply has two jobs. This is not common but not rare either.


Based on a rather stretched semantic interpretation of the term "by that employer" and despite the complete absence of any obligation on an employee to refuse or declare a gift from a second employer.

Say you work for Company A and receive a €500 voucher in June and cease employment with company A on 30 June. You start work with Company B and receive a €1,000 vouch on 31 December. Employee and employer have acted in good faith and it stretches credulity to assume there is some uncodified rule obliging you to refuse half of the second voucher.
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I would venture that the number of people with two unconnected employments both of which provide a €1,000 voucher could travel around Ireland in the same car.

A “semantic interpretation”? We’re talking about tax legislation here!

I took the time to read and parse the relevant Section as it currently stands, and also to read the Finance Bill. With respect, you’re just engaging in ‘Whataboutery’ with the argument of “sure how could I ever be caught?”.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
In my view, someone cannot receive multiple €1,000 vouchers from multiple employers.

Section 112B TCA 1997 deals with the scheme and Subsection (1)(d) currently states that;

“not more than one voucher or benefit can be given to that employee in any year of assessment”

The Finance Bill is changing “one” to “two” and elsewhere changing “€500” to “€1,000”.

Now one could argue that “by that employer” is implied, which might open up the possibility of people with multiple employments receiving multiple vouchers. I wouldn’t agree with that. In my view, it means that only one voucher (soon to be two) totalling €1,000 can be issued to any person.
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Very clear advice. Many thanks.
 
I'm not so sure I believe @Gordon Gekko's interpretation
IMO the law clearly states that am employer may reward an employee a small reward of up to €1,000
it doesn't stat anywhere than an employee may receive a small reward of up to €1,000

so someone with multiple employments should be able to receive a voucher from each employer
 
stevieob said:
I'm not so sure I believe @Gordon Gekko's interpretation
IMO the law clearly states that am employer may reward an employee a small reward of up to €1,000
it doesn't stat anywhere than an employee may receive a small reward of up to €1,000

so someone with multiple employments should be able to receive a voucher from each employer
Click to expand...

In light of the stuff discussed in this thread about the changes that Revenue are making I don't think it would be a good idea to get the wrong side of them on this particular issue.
 
From revenue's perspective, they treat this as an allowable business expense exemption for the employer. I've spoken to a couple of accountants about this, and they are adamant that it is per employer... i.e. if you have multiple employers (even if notionally connected) an employee can get small gifts (i.e. 1000 vouchers) from each of them.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
The Finance Bill is adding the following:

“ ‘qualifying incentive’ means a relevant incentive that is the first or the second relevant incentive given to an employee in a year of assessment

Again, I think the absence of “by that employer” means that people can’t get €1,000 from different employers.
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stevieob said:
I'm not so sure I believe @Gordon Gekko's interpretation
IMO the law clearly states that am employer may reward an employee a small reward of up to €1,000
it doesn't stat anywhere than an employee may receive a small reward of up to €1,000

so someone with multiple employments should be able to receive a voucher from each employer
Click to expand...
Yes, first or second incentive given to an ‘Individual’ is how it should be worded if they intended to restrict in this way, to my mind an ‘employee’ can hold multiple jobs, thus receive multiple incentives. Ambiguous wording.
 
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