Last week a delegation from the Institute’s tax team, including representatives from its special working sub-group on cross-border and remote/hybrid working, met in Belfast with Northern Ireland’s Minister of Finance John O’Dowd MLA, to discuss the ongoing barriers to the all-island labour market as result of tax complexity facing businesses and frontier/cross-border workers.
In February this year, the Institute wrote to Minister O’Dowd requesting a meeting to discuss solutions for those employers and workers affected by the byzantine tax administration and compliance requirements in the UK and Ireland which have been exacerbated by hybrid and remote working in recent years. In 2025 we also wrote to HMRC’s CEO JP Marks on this issue, which also featured in the Institute’s pre-budget submission ahead of the 2025 Autumn Budget.
Last week’s meeting with the Minister and his officials was an engaging and productive discussion which focused on the three key issues highlighted in our initial letter whilst also discussing solutions. The Institute will continue to engage with the Minister and his team as this important work progresses.
Earlier this month on 13 April we also met with officials from the Department of Finance in Dublin to discuss the same issues following on from a similar letter to Tánaiste Simon Harris during which his team noted the Tánaiste’s support for the work. This was a similarly engaging meeting the outcome from which is that our engagement with the Irish Government will also continue as Irish Department of Finance officials progress this work on their end.
Readers may be aware of the joint statement issued by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and An Taoiseach Micheál Martin following the UK-Ireland Summit in Cork last month. In that statement, the leaders jointly said that they “welcome agreement to engage on reaching a decision in principle this year on a bilateral Ireland-UK approach to address concerns arising from hybrid cross-border working and to consider other aspects of the UK-Ireland Double Taxation Convention which may require updating.”
The Institute had previously recommended in its 2025 UK pre-budget submission that a bilateral agreement be considered as a policy solution which would significantly reduce the substantial complexity faced by employers and employees affected by these issues. The Institute will be including a similar recommendation in its Pre-Budget 2027 submission to the DoF which will be published in the coming weeks.
As a result of these recent meetings, it is clear and encouraging that Westminster and Dublin are taking a joint approach to this matter which will naturally also require engagement and input from ministers and officials in Stormont. Ultimately, this work may also open up opportunities for the leaders in Dublin, Belfast, and London to consider broader measures which would support the economic development of Northern Ireland beyond the all-island labour market.
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