It s expected thousands of workers who were put on wage subsidies last year will be told next week of any taxes due.
Employees who were on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment must settle outstanding Revenue bills, which could amount to more than 1,000 euro.
The taxes are due as the Government rushed through the introduction of the subsidies, in response to the pandemic, without allowing for them to be taxed at source.
Sinn Féin s Finance Spokesperson, Pearse Doherty says clawing back some of the taxes is unfair:
Updated / Wednesday, 6 Jan 2021
12:25
Revenue said despite the challenges brought about by Covid, overall timely compliance rates for 2020 were only marginally down on 2019
Revenue said it collected €56.2 billion in taxes and duties for the Exchequer last year, as well as over €15 billion on behalf of other departments, agencies and EU states after an unprecedented year in terms of disruption and uncertainty.
Revenue today published its preliminary results for 2020 including tax and duty collected, services provided to customers, timely compliance rates and yield from compliance and enforcement interventions.
It said that despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, overall timely compliance rates for 2020 were only marginally down on 2019.
Thousands Of Workers Due To Get Covid Tax Bill Next Week
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Thousands of workers who were on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment last year are expected to receive their tax bills next week.
Some of these bills could amount to more than €1,000.
Charlie Weston, personal finance editor of the Irish Independent, joined us to discuss this.
He also talked about why more than a million health insurance customers are facing higher premiums when they renew their policies in the coming weeks.
Thousands Of Workers Due To Get Covid Tax Bill Next Week
The payment was put on a statutory footing in August and, like other core social-welfare payments, was made liable for income tax. But the decision to apply this retrospectively between March and August has been heavily criticised, including by the Free Legal Advice Centre, which has questioned whether the move is constitutional.
Q: How much is owed for those who were on the wage subsidy scheme?
Consumer tax manager with Taxback.com, Marian Ryan, said the amount owed will vary from person to person.
“What is owed will depend on their circumstances, their earnings pre- and post-TWSS and if their employer subsidised the TWSS with additional income and topped up the employee’s gross weekly wage.”