Apr 2, 2020
Many of our self-employed clients, including company directors, are now running their business from home. Because you are at home all day, you will most likely notice an increase in your utility and other bills.
Certain expenses will be allowed as a business cost and these are outlined below. Generally, if home costs/bills are fixed there will not be an increase in your bill and hence no extra business cost element.
If there are other family/household members also at home during regular working hours the fact you work from home may only have a marginal effect on increasing the household electricity, heating and other bills above what they would otherwise be. In the event that this is a case, then we suggest that you do not claim any element of the bills as a business cost.
So what expenses will be allowed as a business cost?
Mobile phone & Broadband Costs
Tax relief can be claimed on mobile phone and internet costs that are necessary for your business. Strictly speaking you should obtain an itemised phone bill and the business calls should be highlighted so that you can accurately calculate the cost of those business calls that qualify as a business expense. If you are claiming an estimated percentage of the cost of phone bills, we recommend that you review those costs regularly to make sure that you are not over-estimating them. In the event of a query from Revenue you will need to provide itemised bills showing how you arrived at the business element.
The cost of broadband is a fixed monthly charge, so it is arguable that there is no business cost at all if you already had broadband in your home for private purposes. The fact that you are now working at home, will not increase the monthly charge. If, however, you regularly work from home, and you had to get broadband for business purposes, or you need a high-speed broadband then those costs would generally qualify as a business cost.
Light and heat
To the extent that your light and heat bills have increased because you are working from home, then the amount of the increase may be allowed as a business cost (but please see note above re other family members being at home also during working hours),
Office Furniture
If you need to fit out an office, the cost of office furniture would be an allowable expense and would qualify for capital allowances (so the cost would be spread over a number of years). Office furniture would include desk, chair, storage and filing cabinets.
Electronic Equipment
Tax relief may be claimed on electronic equipment exclusively required to run your business. Examples include computer hardware and software, mobile phones etc.
You will need a valid VAT invoice, issued to the company, in order to recover VAT on a business expense.
OSK are available to support you throughout the current crisis – please email Imelda Prendergast or call 014394200.
Take care and stay safe from all the team at OSK.
Check out more insights and updates at https://www.osk.ie/blog/
Apr 1, 2020
Pundit Arena, in partnership with the Federation of Irish Sport, are offering NGBs the opportunity to ‘live stream’ old games or events during this crisis time. The opportunity is to promote sport to a content-hungry audience who currently have no live sport to engage with.
This is a great chance to engage a new/wider audience for your sport or activity. Check out the deck below for full information or contact Sinead at sinead.conroy@irishsport.ie for further information.
Mar 30, 2020
JULY DATE SET FOR 2021 OLYMPIC GAMES
30 March 2020
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are set to start on the 23 July 2021 and run until the 8 August 2021. This announcement was made following an IOC Executive Board meeting today. The Opening Ceremony of the XXXII Olympic Games had been scheduled for the 24 July this year and were forced to be postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The delay of one year was agreed by the board following discussions with the Tokyo 2020 organising committee and the International Federations.
The confirmation of a date provides clarity for the Olympic Federation of Ireland who can begin work on the addressing the operational adjustments that need to take place following this reschedule.
Speaking today, Chef de Mission for Team Ireland in Tokyo, Tricia Heberle welcomed the clarification of a date,
“Now the athletes have a start date for the Games, they can work with their Performance Directors and coaches to start mapping out preparations. Importantly for athletes and sport, the next information we need clarity on are any changes to qualification and the rescheduling of qualification events. This will take some time, so in the short term the focus remains the same, stay healthy and safe over the coming months.
“The priority now is for everyone to following the government guidelines to protect Ireland and the rest of the world against further spread of this virus. A July 2021 start means that we have plenty of time to reactivate preparatory plans and for athletes currently in modified training or on a break of sorts, this period of time can still allow some positive impact on performance.
“If we are smart, this enforced break can make Team Ireland even better.”
For the full IOC statement CLICK HERE
ENDS
FURTHER INFORMATION
Heather Boyle, Athletes’ Commission Support and Public Relations Officer
heather@olympicsport.ie and +353 87 337 1954
Mar 27, 2020
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will meet again this morning to discuss further measures to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak in Ireland. The NPHET is concerned by the growing number of daily cases, hospital admissions and clusters of infections in nursing homes and healthcare settings. It was announced that a further 10 people died as a result of the virus yesterday, bringing the overall total number of Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland to 19.
Emergency group to meet this morning (RTE)
Dáil passes Emergency Legislation
The Dáil has passed the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Bill. In normal circumstances such a Bill would take months to draft, highlighting the extraordinary nature of the current situation. The Bill approves the temporary income support scheme, prevents the evictions of tenants, imposes a rent freeze, allows restaurants to become takeaways and provides for the rehiring of retired health care workers and former soldiers.
The Bill is expected to be passed by the Seanad today, the final hurdle before being signed into law.
The Bill can be read: Here
Further guidance from Revenue on the temporary income support scheme for employer can be found: Here
Dáil passes legislation giving Government emergency powers (Irish Times)
