Red Faces as Expenses Catch 22 hits Taxman’s Union

It was red faces all round at the Civil & Public Services Union yesterday when Mark Tighe revealed in the Sunday Times that the union has recently made a  €64,000 tax arrears settlement with Revenue.

The CPSU represents the majority of Irish Revenue staff.

It seems it fell foul of the increasingly arcane and often glaringly inconsistent Revenue rules on the tax treatment of expense claims paid to officers and employees.

I see this as the strongest sign yet that the Revenue’s catch 22 regime on expense payments is all but impossible to interpret & obey in practice.

After all, if the taxman’s union can’t get it right, who can?

Meanwhile – in an irony beyond parody – the CPSU is today hosting a self-styled “Tax Justice” Conference in Dublin.