Concern has been raised by Chartered Accountants Ireland over the introduction of the Enhanced Reporting Requirement which comes into effect from January 1.
The new measure will require employers and payroll processors to report to Revenue details of certain payments made to employees and directors every time they are paid.
These include mileage and subsistence, the remote working allowance, and small benefits such as vouchers at Christmas, and flowers given to an employee following the birth of a child.
"Our concern is that employers are not aware that these new requirements kick in on the first of January," said Crona Clohisey, Tax and Public Policy Lead with Chartered Accountants Ireland.
"We've done some research which suggests the majority are not prepared because it does require a little bit of work on behalf of the employer," she said.
"They may need to rearrange their software requirements; they need to get themselves up to speed, they need to coordinate their administrative work within work to make sure they are capturing all of these expenses and that everyone in the organisation is aware there is now a requirement to report these to Revenue on or before they are paid to employees," she added.
There is also a risk that employers might not reimburse expenses as frequently as before when the measure comes into effect.
"There is a concern that employers might look to streamline what they are paying so they may decide to pay those expenses once a month so that they only have to make one repayment to Revenue," Ms Clohisey said.
The reason Revenue wants the information is so that they can target their compliance work; it will allow them to audit or intervene in the correct cases where they think tax compliance is not in order.
"There is no issue in supplying information to Revenue but tax payers and businesses are tax compliant so the requirement to report it in real time is excessive, in our view. We'd consider a monthly or an annual reporting requirement much more accessible for employers," Ms Clohisey said.
The Enhanced Reporting Requirement will add to the cost of doing business, when business costs are already going up. It is also an extra administrative burden at a time when statutory sick pay has increased and the minimum wage is going up from next year.
The legislation to effect this still has not been signed by Minister for Finance Michael McGrath - it is subject to a commencement order, "but it is, we are told coming in on the first of January," she said.
