The payment to the employee of additional expenses in teleworking, such as for example for energy, water, telecommunications or the purchase of equipment, will be exempted up to a certain threshold from the IRS and from the Single Social Tax, both with regard to flat-rate allowances and a variable amount, on presentation of the invoice, according to the proposal presented yesterday by the PS at the meeting of the Decent Work Agenda group, which already has the approval of the socialist absolute majority.
According to the text of the PS amending the Labor Code, “the planned compensation is considered for tax purposes as a cost to the employer and does not constitute the employee’s income up to the limit of the value determined by the ordinance of the responsible members of the government for the fields of tax affairs and social security”. The socialist delegate and coordinator of the Decent Work Agenda group, Fernando José, explained to DN / Dinheiro Vivo that “the limits apply both to the payment of a fixed amount”, agreed between the employee and the company, “as well as on variable compensation supported by invoice”. The aim “is to prevent a hidden increase in the salary mass through the presentation of receipts which, if they had no ceiling, could reach very high values”, adds the parliamentarian. Please note, however, that the IRS understands that it is sufficient to present an invoice to NIF to prove that the charges for the payment in question are exempt from IRS.
For the BE deputy, José Soeiro, “the PS proposal is restrictive because it assumes that invoice costs above a certain ceiling will be partially taxed”. The blockade project, defeated yesterday by the PS with votes against, for BE and PCP and with the abstention of the PSD, only defined a limit for the tax and premium exemption of flat-rate allowances.
But there will be exceptions to the taxation of invoices that exceed the legal limit. The PS deputy explains that “expenditures of greater value and that are one-off, such as those related to the purchase of computers or desks, will fall outside this limit due to subsequent government regulation”. Unlike the BE proposal, which gives the government 30 days to set the ceiling within which the compensation due to the employee is exempt from contributions and taxes, the socialist project does not set any deadlines.
Still within the business of remote work, yesterday a proposal from the PS was unanimously approved that extends the right to this regime to parents with children with disabilities or chronic illness, regardless of age, provided that the functions are compatible and if they have equipment for the exercise of the activity. At the moment, the Labor Act already provides access to teleworking for parents with children up to three years old. And, as already stipulated by law, in these cases the employer “cannot oppose the request of the employee” to continue working remotely.
Salomé Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
