Revenue issues new guidance on employment status
Revenue has published new guidance on determining the employment status of workers for tax purposes.
It follows a recent Supreme Court judgement relating to Domino’s Pizza delivery drivers.
In October 2023, the court ruled that the drivers should be treated as employees and not contractors.
The case related to delivery drivers working on 2010/2011 contracts with Karshan (Midlands) Ltd, trading as Domino’s Pizza.
The drivers argued they were employees for tax purposes, but Karshan said they were independent contractors under “contracts for service”.
Karshan had appealed a 2018 decision of a Tax Appeals Commissioner that the drivers should be treated as PAYE workers.
Revenue has published a ‘Tax and Duty Manual’ which explains the five-step decision-making framework that businesses are required to use to determine whether a worker is an employee or self-employed for taxation purposes.
The manual also includes a number of examples designed to assist businesses in determining what the Supreme Court decision means for the taxation of workers they engage.
“Revenue previously encouraged all businesses that were engaging contractors, sub-contractors or other workers on a self-employment basis to familiarise themselves with the details of the judgement and review their workforce model in light of same,” Revenue said in a statement.
“Revenue reminds businesses that they are responsible for ensuring that the correct taxes are deducted from their employees’ pay and reported through the PAYE system, and any business which has not yet self-reviewed their work force model in light of the Supreme Court judgement should do so now,” it added.
Article Source – Revenue issues new guidance on employment status – RTE
