The Tax and Duty Manual – PAYE Exclusion Orders – has been updated. The updates relate to bonuses paid when a PAYE Exclusion Order is in place, the removal of the concessionary treatment of freelance actors and COVID-19 concessions which ceased on 31 December 2020.

Updates within the manual are as follows:

• Part 4.9 – Bonus payments where PAYE Exclusion Order in place;
  • The manual deals with bonuses awarded based on individual performance as determined by the employee’s annual review. There are examples of how such bonuses are dealt with from a tax perspective where a PAYE Exclusion Order is in place either when the bonus is paid, or during the period the bonus was earned.
• Part 6.1 – Freelance actors;
  • The concessionary treatment allowing a PAYE Exclusion Order to be granted to actors engaged as employees, who also had other freelance professional income as an actor assessable to income tax under Schedule D and a satisfactory record of tax compliance is withdrawn with effect from 1 January 2020.
• Part 8 – PRSI;
  • The contact details for the Department of Social Protection have been updated in relation to queries on whether PRSI contributions are due and how they should be remitted.
• Part 9 – PAYE Exclusion Order concessions;
  • A link to the COVID-19 concessions issues regarding PAYE exclusion orders has been included. These concessions ceased on 31 December 2020 and normal rules apply from that date. The manual details that where a such a concession was availed of records of facts and circumstance should be maintained.

A sample PAYE Exclusion Order has also been included in Appendix 1 of the manual.

See Revenue eBrief No. 140/21 for further details.