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Claim tax relief for approved courses:
Many people mistakenly believe that they can only claim tax relief for themselves or for their children. In fact, there is no limit on the number of individuals for whom you can claim provided you are paying the fees for the course. Employees can claim tax relief for approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The maximum amount of qualifying fees allowable under the tax relief scheme is €5,000. Tax relief is given at the standard rate. You can only claim for one course for any individual in any tax year.
Approved Undergraduate Courses must:
• be carried out in an approved college;
• be of at least 2 academic years duration; and
• In the case of courses carried out in colleges and institutions that require approval by the Department of Education and Science for the purposes of this tax relief, the course must be approved by that Department.
Approved Postgraduate Courses must:
• be carried out in an approved college;
• be of at least 1 academic year but no more than 4 academic years in duration; and
• Lead to a postgraduate award based on either a thesis or an examination.
• The person taking the course must already have a primary degree or equivalent qualification.
How may the relief be claimed?
• You can apply for this relief by completing the application form.
• You should retain a receipt from the course provided in relation to tuition fees for which relief has been claimed as it may be requested for verification at a later date.
• Relief shall only be given for one approved course per person in respect of the year of assessment.
Relief is not available in respect of:
• any part of the tuition fees that are or will be met directly or indirectly by grants, scholarships, by an employer or otherwise;
• Administration, registration or examination fees.
This relief is allowable per course per academic year. If you have paid college fees in respect of more than one individual attending college in an academic year, relief is due to you in respect of the fees paid for each person up to the maximum limit per course.
Where fees are paid in installments and any such amounts are paid in a tax year following the year in which the academic year of the approved course commenced, then the relief for fees relating to that academic year may be granted either -
• in the tax year during which the academic year of the approved course commenced;
Or
• The tax year in which the installment was paid.
However, relief will only be granted in respect of amounts actually paid and subject to the maximum relief available in that academic year.
Lists of Approved Colleges and Courses
Annual lists of approved Third Level colleges in the State and approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the State are available on www.revenue.ie

Under The Employers Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme employers do not have to pay the employers’ portion of the PRSI contribution for certain employees.

Employers who have created new jobs for people who had been claiming Jobseeker’s Benefit for a period of 6 months will not have to pay employer’s PRSI in respect of their employment for twelve months from the date you are approved for the scheme. The scheme is only applicable for the tax year 2010.

The Department of Social Protection launched a guide to the scheme together with an application form (PRSI 20 form) which can be accessed by logging onto: Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme

The correct PRSI classes to be used for qualifying employees for a maximum of 12 months are:

• PRSI Class A4 where the employee would normally be insurable under Class A1.
• PRSI Class A5 where the employee would normally be insurable under Class A2 (i.e. Health Levy exemption).
• PRSI Class A7 where the employee would normally be insurable under Class AX or AL.
• PRSI Class A6 where the employee would normally be insurable under Class A0.

Employers who are granted approval to use this scheme must remember to change the affected employee’s PRSI class back to their original PRSI class once 12 months has elapsed.

Attention Trade Union members: are you claiming your full tax credit entitlements?

Where an employee is a member of a trade union at anytime during the tax year, regardless of the amount paid or the length of time they were a member of the trade union, they will be entitled to a tax credit. The maximum tax credit of 70 Euro is due even if the employee for example only paid 20 Euro for trade union subscriptions in the tax year.

Did you know that you are entitled to tax relief at 20% on your rental payments each year?

Tenants paying rent to landlords for private accommodation, excluding rent paid to state institutions or to a local authority, are entitled to claim tax relief for rent paid. A tax credit of 20% of rent paid will be granted subject to certain rental limits.

Under 55 years 55 Years and over

Single €2,000 €4,000

Married €4,000 €8,000

A single person under 55 years paying rent in excel of €2000 in 2009, will be entitled to a maximum tax credit of €400 for 2009 i.e. 20% of €2,000.

To Claim rent relief simply complete the Rent 1 form available in our Download Centre

A recent survey on Outsourcing conducted by Mazars confirmed some interesting results. In summary, almost 90% of the organisations partaking in the survey believe that outsourcing adds value to their organisation. Over the past year, the use of outsourcing has stayed the same or increased in 80% of cases with cost savings being the primary objective. Having access to skills and knowledge not available internally, reducing costs and enhancing efficiency are the most common reasons to outsource.

The most popular outsourcing category was Finance, accounting and payroll with 62% of organisations surveyed currently outsourcing these functions. Other areas outsourced include Customer Service/Call Centres, IT Services, Web Hosting and Transaction Processing.

Almost two thirds of those surveyed indicated that the current economic climate had not changed their view of outsourcing and those organisations who outsource in order to achieve cost savings are more likely to consider outsourcing in the next 12 months. The results indicate that organisations that outsource to have access to skills not available in-house “appear to require these services regardless of external economic factors”.

The topic of outsourcing has had considerable media coverage since the start of this year. Over the past few weeks we have been invited on several occasions to outline the benefits of outsourcing in the national media. We attach a sample of the articles here if you would like to read more.

The 119 staff operating the NERA operations responded to 25,797 calls, interviews and inspections in 2009, recovering almost €2.5 million in unpaid wages due to employees. Providing a valuable service to employers and employees, NERA ensures that employers operate on a level playing pitch whereby no competitive advantage can be gained by illegally undercutting workers statutory entitlements in the area of pay and conditions. During 2009, 39% of all callers were employers and most enquiries related to redundancies, holiday entitlement, terms of employment and payment of wages. Over 8,800 employers were inspected with an overall compliance level of 69%.One of the key areas of concern for employers was the retention of records. Keeping proper records protects employees from being exploited and employers from mischievous or vexatious claims. Where complaints were investigated by NERA the employer records were key in demonstrating compliance confirming that the importance of keeping proper records cannot be stressed enough. NERA propose to develop and distribute a guide to assist employers meet their record keeping requirements in 2010.

Inspections under the Industrial Relations and Minimum Wage legislation recovered €2.5 million in unpaid wages for over 6,000 employee identified as having been paid less than their statutory minimum entitlement, an average of €410 per employee. Of 2,981 inspections under the National Minimum Wage Act, compliance was particularly high at 93% of those inspected. Considerable non-compliance with the National minimum Wage Act was found in a number of hairdressing establishments.

555 complaints were received by NERA under the Payment of Wages Act. All employees are entitled to receive a statement of earnings (a payslip) with every payment of wages, showing the gross wages and the nature and amount of each deduction made. A total of 4,210 inspections were carried out recording compliance levels of 87%, The main breaches detected were in relation to failure to provide payslips, making illegal deductions or not recording gross wages and or deductions on the payslips. There was a particular issue where board and lodgings are provided and charged for by the employer.

144 complaints were received in respect of the Organisation of Working Time Act with a 53% compliance rate over 4,229 inspections undertaken. Again, record keeping was a major issue.

The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996 accounted for 4,218 night-time inspections with a 99% compliance rate.

1,115 inspections were undertaken under the Employment Permits Acts with a compliance rate of 60%. In most cases, where employers were found to be employing people in contravention of this legislation, employer claimed either not to now that employees required a permit or not to know their nationality.

Particular sectors are covered by specific agreements on pay and conditions. These agreements are made by Joint Labour Committees or from negotiation between trade unions and employer. Commonly referred to as Employment Regulation Orders (ERO’s) and Registered Employment Agreements (REA’s) employers in these sectors are obliged by law to pay the wage rates and provide the conditions of employment prescribed by the respective orders and agreements.

Agriculture – the Agricultural ERO applies to employers and employees in the agricultural, horticultural and equestrian sectors. NERA carried out 72 inspections in this sector in 2009 with compliance of 56% recorded and €90,000 in underpayments of statutory minimum rates paid to workers. A particular problem was identified concerning rest periods and payment of statutory minimum rates in the equestrian sector.

Catering – From 442 inspections, a total of €737,000 was paid to employees in the catering sector to compensate for underpayments of the statutory minimum entitlements. This was a follow on from an intensive campaign in the catering sector in 2008, which involved inspections of over 1,000 catering employers. Despite this level of activity the level of compliance of businesses inspected in 2009 remained very low at 21%. NERA have co-operated with the Restaurant Association of Ireland and Failte Ireland to provide information to employers in the sector about compliancy issues.

Contract Cleaning. There are two ERO’s covering this sector depending on location. Following the low compliancy rates identified in 2008, 178 employers were inspected in 2009. A compliance level of 50% was recorded and €125,000 in underpayments were identified and paid out to employees.

Retail Grocery & Allied Trades – this sector governs those employed in grocery shops and convenience stores. NERA carried out 284 inspections in 2009 and found a 28% compliance level. A sum of €357,000 was paid to employees in the sector. Due to the low compliance rate in this sector NERA have stated that they will be carrying out a compliance campaign in this sector in 2010.

Hotels – Working in co-operation with NERA, Failte Ireland developed a guide specifically for employers in the hotel sector to assist with achieving compliance in the sector. 131 inspections found a 27% compliancy level with €165,000 being paid out in underpayments to employees. Again, insufficient records were an issue, underpayment of the statutory minimum rates of pay and not recording the correct gross pay or deductions on payslips. Given the low level of compliancy in this sector, NERA will be carrying out an increased number of inspections in this sector in 2010.

Security – During 2007 and 2008, NERA carried out a compliance campaign in the security sector. In 2009, a further 48 inspections were carried out in the sector and a 46% compliance level was recorded. €285,000 was paid out to employees who had been underpaid.

Construction: A compliance rate of 45% was recorded over 395 inspections carried out in the Construction sector in 2009, with €252,000 in unpaid waged recovered for workers.

A new European Agreement is set to increase Parental Leave from three to four months per parent per child by 2012, applying to all employees regardless of contract type. The agreement will also include a provision for parents returning to work following Parental Leave to request a change to their working conditions. It will be interesting to see how this legislation will be introduced in Ireland!

A Cork Construction company was fined €31,000 for non-remittance of pension contributions to the trustees of the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS). The case against the director of the company was adjourned while the judge decides either to impose 200 hours community service or a custodial sentence of 4 months in respect of each of the 31 charges to run concurrently.

Over 750,000 cases were reviewed by the office of the Social & Family Affairs in 2009, resulting in savings of €484 million through fraud and control measures. There were 620 staff involved in the investigation of fraud and new measures have been introduced to combat future fraud attempts. These include requiring jobseekers to provide photo ID when they collect their payment in person each week at the Post Office. A new Public Service Card with photo ID will be rolled out from 2010 which will provide a new secure card for some 3 million people. Read more

Inter-agency checks in towns near the border will counter welfare tourism and abuses while data matching will be completed with external agencies including the Registrars Office on Births, Marriages and Deaths, Revenue Commissioners, Department of Education and the Taxi Regulator.

Over 600,000 claims were reviewed with medical checks and certification for non-Irish nationals to prove continued entitlement to child benefit.

Over 5,000 anonymous reports of suspected fraud were made by the Public. Approximately 380 people were prosecuted in 2009 and were instructed to repay the money and fined or given a prison sentence.

The recent Act provides for the introduction of a 4 year time limit for claiming PRSI refunds. This applies where PRSI was mistakenly paid on maintenance payments and pension contributions. The new time limit applies to PRSI refunds and does not apply to Health Levy refunds which an individual may be entitled to claim (eg where an employee paid the Health Levy at some stage during the year but their reckonable income does not exceed €26,000).