Ireland is easing the reporting rules on the €3.20 daily remote working allowance

The Irish Department of Finance published Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026 on 19 October 2026, and it includes a change to how employers report tax-free benefits. Employers will be able to report them by the 14th of the following month, rather than on or before the date of payment. The €3.20 per day remote working allowance is among the benefits covered.

The Bill also confirms the national minimum wage rising to €14.94 an hour from 1 January 2027, from €14.15, an increase of 5.6%, and moves the employer PRSI higher-rate threshold from €552 to €600 a week.

Why this matters

The €3.20 daily allowance is the mechanism by which an Irish employer can contribute to the cost of working from home without the payment being taxed as salary. It is modest money, worth roughly €700 a year to someone working from home most days, and the administrative burden of reporting it on or before each payment has been out of proportion to the amount.

Moving to monthly reporting removes a reason not to offer it. That is the practical effect: employers who have avoided the allowance because enhanced reporting made it fiddly have one less argument. If you work remotely for an Irish employer and have never been offered the €3.20, this is a reasonable moment to ask.

Context

Ireland’s approach has been to keep remote work support inside the tax code rather than to legislate an entitlement, which means the detail sits in Finance Bills rather than in employment law. Remote Work Europe tracks it there for that reason. The separate right to request remote working, in force since 2024, remains a right to request rather than a right to receive.

What to watch

Passage of the Bill, and whether Revenue guidance follows promptly. The reporting change is the kind of provision that only takes effect in practice once payroll software has been updated for it.