Questions and Answers

BIK Liabilities for E-Workers

Q. One of my employees work from home on a part-time basis and I would like to provide them with some equipment for work purposes. Will this trigger any BIK liabilities?

A. E-Working, where employees spend a portion of their working week working from home, is becoming increasingly common.

As an employer you can provide the following equipment to an e-worker, where the provision of such items is primarily for business use, and not trigger a BIK charge:

Computers
Printers
Scanners
Telephone line
Broadband
Office furniture

You can also pay tax-free expenses of €3.20 per day for each day that the employee works at home in lieu of additional electricity and heating costs that the employee will incur. Any expenses claims in this regard must be properly documented.

The fact that an e-worker uses their home for e-work will not affect their ability to claim the CGT exemption for Principal Private Residences should they so wish.

You should note that these rules apply to e-workers only and not to employees who in the normal course of employment bring some work home at evening time or during weekends.

Date published 23 Mar 2018

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.

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