Using ERR Items

With SimplePay, users can submit ERR information directly to ROS using three new built-in items. This page covers the use of these ERR items to report the Small Benefit Exemption, Remote Working Daily Allowance, and Travel and Subsistence (non-taxable).

Please note:

1. The Income Tax (Employments) Regulations 2024 require employers to retain all documentation and records which relate to the reportable benefits of employees. Records should be kept and maintained for six years after the year in which the documentation was produced, unless instructed otherwise by Revenue.
2. You are also able to submit your ERR information via ROS Online or a manual file upload. If you use a separate expense management system to do your ERR reporting, you should not capture these non-taxable benefits on SimplePay, too — to prevent double reporting.
3. SimplePay has automatically upgraded existing employer ROS certificates loaded on the system to include ERR permissions. It’s important to note that these permissions do not automatically extend to any sub-certificates under the employer’s certificate. Also, note that when adding a new certificate to SimplePay, you will need to ensure that on the Employer Filing Details page under the Settings menu option, the Permissions dropdown is set to “Payroll (with ERR)”. Please refer to our help here and Revenues’s page here for more details.

Please note: Employers are required to report the details of these non-taxable benefits on or before making the payment or giving the benefit to the employee.

Small Benefit Exemption

Employees can receive up to two tax-free small benefits annually. These non-cash benefits must not exceed a combined value of €1,000. Additionally, if more than two small benefits are given, only the first two will be considered tax-free. Any unused allowance amounts cannot be carried over to the next year.

We have a built-in item to record this. To add this item:

• Go to an Employee’s profile.
• Click on Payslip Inputs.
• Under Benefits, click on Small Benefit.
• Enter an amount in the Value field and a Description of your choosing. NB: Should the amount exceed €1000, the full benefit will change to taxable.
• Click Save. Note that you will not be able to save if the Value field is a negative value.

Please note: Ensure that this Payslip Input is added to the correct payslip period based on when the benefit was given to the employee. Adding this item does not affect the nett pay.

Remote Working Daily Allowance

Remote workers can be paid up to €3.20 per day tax-free. This allowance is intended to assist employees in covering the extra costs associated with remote work, such as electricity and internet. If your employees’ expenses surpass €3.20 per day, you can give them a higher allowance, but any amount in excess of €3.20 will be subject to tax*.

*The taxable portion must not be reported to Revenue through ERR. It will form part of the normal payroll reporting to Revenue.

We have a built-in item to record this. To add this item:

• Go to an Employee’s profile.
• Click on Regular Inputs.
• Under Allowance, click on Remote Working Daily Allowance.
• Enter a Rate in the field provided.

Please note: A rate that exceeds €3.20 will result in part of the allowance being taxable.

• You will be required to enter a value in the Number of days field on every payslip going forward by clicking on Remote Working Daily Allowance under Payslip Inputs. Note that only whole days can be recorded.
• Before populating the Number of days field, please ensure the Applicable Period dropdown is set to the correct period, by selecting either “Current payslip” or “Current year”.

Should you need to add a second rate, please refer to the below FAQ:

• Can I have multiple Remote Working Daily Allowance rates?

Travel and Subsistence (non-taxable)

Employers can cover employees’ expenses during business trips, which can include subsistence costs when employees work away from their regular workplace.

Travel and Subsistence (non-taxable) includes:

• Travel vouched.
• Travel unvouched.
• Subsistence vouched.
• Subsistence unvouched.
• Site-based employees (including “Country money”).
• Emergency travel.
• Eating on site.

Refer to this Revenue page for more details.

We have a built-in item to record this. To add this item:

• Go to an Employee’s profile.
• Click on Regular Inputs.
• Under Reimbursements, click on Travel and Subsistence (non-taxable).
• Select a category as mentioned above by selecting the relevant checkboxes. This is a required field.
• Enter the Amount, as well as a Description of your choosing.
• Click Save.

Please note: If an employee is paid or receives benefits during the month, a once-off payslip needs to be created to ensure timely reporting.

• You will thereafter be required to enter the amount on every payslip going forward by clicking on Travel and Subsistence (non-taxable) under Payslip Inputs.

Please note: If travel and subsistence payments don’t qualify for tax-free reimbursement, they will be considered taxable income. You will then need to create a Custom Item to report any taxable travel and subsistence amounts. For guidance on determining whether a Travel and Subsistence payment must be considered taxable or non-taxable, please refer to the guidelines provided by Revenue here.

Advanced Payments

As of 22 April 2024, Revenue has introduced an optional administrative practice, whereby advance payments of travel and subsistence (only) can be treated, in certain circumstances, as not being subject to tax via payroll when paid. Instead, these advance payments will have no tax deducted and must be reported through ERR. Once the expense incurs and the claim is submitted by the employee, the employer will be required to update their ERR submission to reflect the actual travel and subsistence expense amount.

Further guidance on the optional administrative practice regarding advance payments of travel and subsistence can be found in Revenue’s updated ERR Tax and Duty Manual (section 4.2.1).

Please note: SimplePay does not facilitate the reporting of these advance payments via our payroll system. Revenue has catered for reporting these types of payments via the manual ROS screens.

Submitting to Revenue

You will be able to submit to Revenue through SimplePay once the items have been added to employees’ payslips, and once you have finalised the payslips for the given pay period.

To submit to Revenue, go to Filing > Regular Submissions > under Enhanced Reporting, click Submit next to the correct date. Refer to the below help page for more information:

• Submissions to Revenue

Bulk Actions and Reports

ERR items can be captured in Bulk using our Bulk Actions functionality. Refer to the below help page on Bulk Inputs for more information:

• Bulk Inputs

To generate a Transaction History Report containing ERR items, refer to the below help page:

• Transaction History Report

Employee Claim Requests

Employees will be able to submit claim requests for the above ERR items via Self-Service. Refer to the below help page for more details:

• Employee Claim Requests

Please note: Currently, our Employee Claim Requests only allow for Travel and Subsistence.

Refer to the screenshot below for an example: