A few extra kilometres a week
A sales rep with a 1,400cc car adds 40 km a week to genuine claims for 45 weeks. Every kilometre falls in Band 2. The extra 1,800 km is not a reimbursement of a cost, so it can't be paid tax-free.
Expense Reimbursement Fraud in Ireland: spotting false mileage and subsistence claims
The patterns that turn up on Irish travel and subsistence claims, the rule each one breaks, and what follows for tax, employment and criminal law. With a checker for a single claim.
- Council T&S claims an internal audit found completed fully and accurately
- 28/120
- Council T&S claims an internal audit found completed fully and accurately
- Donegal, 2021
- HSE staff overpaid in an audit sample of 2,531 travel claims
- 63/126
- HSE staff overpaid in an audit sample of 2,531 travel claims
- HSE, reported 2026
- Revenue penalty for deliberate default with no disclosure or cooperation
- 100%
- Revenue penalty for deliberate default with no disclosure or cooperation
- Tax penalty
- Maximum prison term on indictment for false accounting
- 10 yrs
- Maximum prison term on indictment for false accounting
- Criminal law
Checked on 11 October 2026 against Revenue's Tax and Duty Manuals 05-01-06 and 38-03-33 (both reviewed September 2026), the Code of Practice for Revenue Compliance Interventions, the Theft and Fraud Offences Act 2001 and published WRC decisions. This guide covers travel and subsistence only, not corporate cards, purchasing or invoice fraud.
The short version
T&S fraud in thirty seconds
Travel and subsistence fraud is knowingly claiming mileage or an allowance that wasn't incurred or isn't due: extra kilometres, trips that didn't happen, a day or night rate that fails the time or distance tests, or one cost claimed twice. A payment that doesn't meet Revenue's conditions isn't a tax-free reimbursement; it is pay, taxable through payroll.[1] Deliberate false claims can also be a criminal offence[6] and grounds for dismissal, after a fair procedure.[7] Many wrong claims are honest mistakes, so check first and ask before you accuse.
Kilometres and start points
Shortest practicable route; the lesser of home or base when a trip starts at home.
Times and distances
5 or 10 hours away and more than 8 km for a day rate; more than 100 km for a night.
One cost, one claim
No flat rate on top of a receipt for the same meal, no two claims for one car.
Wrong claims are pay
PAYE, PRSI and USC are due, with interest and possibly a penalty.
Fair procedures first
Put the facts to the employee and hear the answer before deciding anything.
Definitions
When is a wrong claim fraud, and when is it a mistake?
The difference is intent. Revenue's penalty rules and the criminal law both turn on it.
Innocent error
A wrong address, a rounded distance
Not deliberate and not a failure to take reasonable care. Revenue lets these be corrected without a penalty; statutory interest still applies.[5]
Careless
Nobody checked the rules
A "failure to take reasonable care". Think of day rates paid for years without anyone recording the times. Penalties start at 3% of the tax with an unprompted disclosure.[5]
Deliberate
Invented trips, false documents
Needs indicators of intent, such as "providing incomplete, false or misleading documents or information". Penalties up to 100% of the tax, and possible prosecution.[5]
The criminal law draws the same line. The theft and fraud offences all require that a person acted dishonestly, which the 2001 Act defines as "without a claim of right made in good faith".[6] An employee who honestly believed a journey counted, even wrongly, isn't acting dishonestly.
The civil service rules set the tone: the subsistence allowance "is not intended to be a source of emolument or profit".[2] The aim of a claims process is to pay what was genuinely incurred, not to catch people out.
What this guide coversMileage (kilometre) allowances, day and overnight subsistence, and related travel claims by employees and directors, paid under Revenue's travel and subsistence rules. Corporate cards, purchasing, invoices and entertainment are out of scope.
The red flags
What does T&S fraud look like on a claim?
Eleven patterns, the rule each one breaks and the check that finds it. Every one of them can also be an honest mistake.
PatternWhat it looks likeThe ruleThe check
Inflated kilometres110 km claimed for a 70 km round tripOfficial travel by the shortest practicable route[2]Mapped route distance
Phantom tripsA trip on a day the diary, job sheet or vehicle log shows nothingOnly expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of the job[1]Match to calendars and logs
The commuteMileage from home to the normal place of workHome-to-work travel is taxable, not a business journey[1]Normal place of work on file
Office distance from homeTrip starts at home, claim uses the longer office-to-site distanceOnly the lesser of home or base to the site is tax-free[1][2]Start point on every claim
Day rate without the tests€46.17 for a 7-hour trip, or a client 6 km from home5 or 10 hours, more than 8 km from home and base[1][3]Times and distance recorded
Overnight inside 100 kmA hotel night 70 km from baseMore than 100 km; 50 km only for an operational need[1][3]Distance and sign-off
Day rate inside the nightA night plus €46.17 for a 28-hour tripDay rate only 5 hours past the last 24-hour period[2]Total time away
One cost, two claimsDay rate plus a lunch receipt; two staff claim one carFlat rates only where the employee bears the cost; avoid duplicate cars[1][2]Duplicate detection
Wrong vehicle bandAn electric car claimed at the over-1,500cc rateEVs use the 1,201–1,500cc rates[1]Vehicle details on file
Claims for leave daysSubsistence for days of annual leaveSubsistence stops during leave[2]Leave records
The same sheet every monthIdentical journeys resubmitted month after monthA record of each journey: date, reason, km, start and end[1]Pattern checks across months
Rates: €19.25 (5 to 10 hours), €46.17 (10 hours or more) and €205.53 a night, from 29 January 2025.The tests behind these flags are explained in the 10-hour day rate guide, the overnight subsistence rates, normal place of work, how to calculate mileage and EV mileage rates.
Try it
Check a claim for red flags
Enter one trip as it was claimed: where it started, the times, how far the place visited is from base and from home, and what was claimed. The checker lists each rule the claim breaks and where the rule comes from.
Claim red-flag checker
Enter one trip as claimed, or start from a common problem.
Try a claim
The trip
Set off from
Back on
km
km
One-way road distance to the place visited. Enter 0 for the normal place of work if it is the place visited.
What was claimed
km
Day allowance claimed
Also on file
ResultNo red flags
Pay as claimed10h 30m away · 0 red, 0 to query€0.00not supported
Claimed€153.80
By the rules€153.80
Nothing on this claim breaks the distance, time or duplicate rules. Keep the record (date, reason, kilometres, start and end points, times) for six years.[1]
A red flag means the claim can't be paid tax-free as entered. It doesn't mean anyone was dishonest: many come from a wrong start point, a rounded distance or a misunderstood rule. Ask first.
The evidence
What have Irish audits actually found?
Three public bodies, three internal audits. Mostly errors and weak controls, and one practice that turned taxable pay into tax-free allowances.
Donegal County Council, 2021
28 of 120 claims fully accurate
- In at least 27 claims, staff declared the longer distance rather than the shorter of home or workplace
- Repeated trips to the same place on the same day
- Subsistence for journeys near the office or on the way to and from it
- The same set of journeys photocopied and submitted each month[11]
HSE, reported June 2026
Half the sampled staff overpaid
- A review of 2,531 claims by 126 staff, worth €1.3 million, found 63 overpaid a combined €50,467
- Auditors put it down to errors going undetected through "insufficient and inadequate" testing and oversight
- The checking unit covered about a quarter of the HSE's €92.6 million of claims[12]
Garda College, reported 2022
Overnights that never happened
- 12 of 14 claims audited were for overnights; logbooks showed staff travelled there and back each day
- Management had approved it instead of overtime
- Auditors warned of an underpayment of tax "by both the employee and the organisation"[13]
None of these audits was a finding of fraud against an individual. In the Garda case, the force said that because local management had agreed the practice, internal discipline did not arise for anyone who claimed that way.[13] The lesson is the same in all three: controls that aren't tested stop working, and an allowance used in place of pay creates a tax problem whoever approved it.
The global picture (all expense types)The ACFE's 2024 global study of 1,921 occupational fraud cases found expense reimbursement schemes in 13% of cases, with a median loss of $50,000 and a median duration of 18 months. Tips were the most common way frauds of all kinds were found (43% of cases), and 52% of tips came from employees.[14] It isn't Irish data and it isn't limited to travel.
The tax
What happens to the tax on a false claim?
A payment that doesn't meet Revenue's conditions isn't a tax-free reimbursement. It is pay, and the tax on it is due with interest.
Revenue disregards travel and subsistence payments only where the employee was temporarily away from the normal place of work, the travel was necessarily incurred in doing the job, and the subsistence relates to that travel.[1] A flat rate up to the civil service rates needs no Revenue approval, but only "where a satisfactory recording and internal control system is in operation".[1]
Anything outside those conditions is taxable and subject to PAYE: commuting mileage, and round sums paid "irrespective of expenses actually incurred".[1] And where pay is labelled as tax-free expenses, Revenue says it will consider whether there is any element of fraud or neglect, or whether a Revenue offence may have been committed.[1]
Since 1 January 2024, employers report each tax-free travel and subsistence payment to Revenue on or before paying it: the amount, the date and the subcategory, such as travel unvouched or subsistence unvouched.[4] Revenue's manual says the employer must decide in advance of each payment whether the conditions for paying it tax-free are met.[4] See the ERR compliance guide.
Worked example
- Extra kilometres a week
- 40
- Weeks
- 45
- Extra kilometres in the year
- 1,800 km
- Band 2 rate, 1,201–1,500cc
- 79.18c
Overpaid€1,425.24
Pay, not expenses: PAYE, PRSI and USC are due on it, plus statutory interest and any penalty.Revenue penalties on the tax underpaid
For a first qualifying disclosure, by behaviour and timing. Statutory interest is charged on top and can't be reduced.[5]
BehaviourUnprompted disclosurePrompted disclosureNo co-operation
Careless, without significant consequences3%10%20%
Careless, with significant consequences5%20%40%
Deliberate10%50%100%
"Significant consequences" means the tax underpaid is more than 15% of the tax correctly payable. Rates rise for second and later disclosures. Unprompted means before a Revenue audit notification issues.Criminal law
Is a false expense claim a crime in Ireland?
It can be, where it is dishonest and made to gain money. Two offences in the 2001 Act fit a false travel claim.
Section 6
Making gain by deception
Dishonestly, by any deception, inducing another to do an act, with the intention of making a gain or causing a loss. Up to 5 years on indictment, a fine, or both.[6]
Section 10
False accounting
Dishonestly falsifying any account or document "made or required for any accounting purpose", including making an entry that is false or misleading in a material particular. Up to 10 years on indictment, a fine, or both.[6]
A claim form or mileage log can be a document made or required for an accounting purpose, so a deliberately false entry on one can fall within section 10. Both offences need dishonesty and an intention to make a gain or cause a loss.[6]
On the tax side, Revenue's Code of Practice says that where serious evasion or fraud is found in any intervention, Revenue will open an investigation with a view to prosecution.[5]
Leave criminal questions to the professionalsWhether a case should be reported to An Garda Síochána is a decision for the employer with legal advice. Run the internal process fairly either way; a rushed dismissal can fail at the WRC even when the claim was wrong.
Employment law
Can you dismiss someone for a false claim?
Deliberate dishonesty can justify dismissal. A dismissal without fair procedures usually fails, however strong the evidence looks.
01Put the details to them
The allegation and the evidence, in writing where needed.
02Let them respond fully
There may be an answer: a detour, a different start point, a policy nobody explained.
03Right to representation
A colleague or a registered trade union.
04Fair and impartial decision
Taking account of everything they said and all the relevant evidence.
05An internal appeal
A clear range of penalties and a route to challenge the outcome.
These are the principles of natural justice and fair procedures in the statutory Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures.[7]
WRC · ADJ-00028110 · 2022
Mileage claimed for a month with no travel
A shop employee was paid a monthly mileage allowance for working at a branch. During the 2020 lockdown, with that shop closed all month, he claimed half his usual mileage; he said the "mileage" had really been a wage increase. He was dismissed by email the following week. The adjudicator found "no procedures followed at all" (no disciplinary interview, no representation, no appeal) and awarded four weeks' pay, €2,258.76, plus notice pay.[8]
EAT · UD2376/2010
Payments booked as mileage
An accountant was dismissed after an inquiry into the accounts, which included about €65,700 paid to him over seven years that the employer said "there was no way" was mileage; he said it included agreed commission put through as mileage. The Tribunal found the initial investigation "not as independent as it should have been", held the dismissal unfair, found he had contributed to it, and awarded €35,000.[9]
Two lessons from the same casesBoth started with mileage that was arguably pay, not reimbursement of a cost, which is exactly what Revenue's manual warns about.[1] And both employers lost because of how they dismissed, not because the claims were right.
Prevention
Which controls catch false claims?
Checks that run on every claim, before it is paid, plus a sample checked properly after.
Approve before paying
ERR assumes the employer has decided each payment qualifies before it is made.
Check the route
Compare claimed kilometres with a mapped route from the recorded start point.
Times on every allowance
Departure and return times decide the 5h, 10h and 29-hour tests.
Detect duplicates
Same date and place twice, flat rate plus receipt, two claims for one car.
Facts on file
Each person's normal place of work, home distance band and vehicle engine size.
Keep six years of records
Name, date, reason, km, start, destination, finish and basis for each trip.
Test a sample
A dip sample against diaries, logbooks and leave records, done regularly.
Track recoveries
Log each overpayment until it is repaid or corrected through payroll.
Revenue's records list is the backbone: the employee's name and address, the date, the reason for the journey, the kilometres, the starting point, destination and finishing point, and the basis for the payment, kept for six years after the end of the tax year.[1] A claim that records all of that is also a claim that can be checked.
The Garda College problem surfaced through an anonymous complaint, a dip sample and then the vehicle logbooks.[13] The HSE auditors' main recommendations were wider second-line checking and a formal process for tracking and escalating overpayment recoveries.[12]
Put it in the policyWrite down how distances are measured, which start point applies, what needs a receipt, and what happens when a claim is wrong. A clear travel expense policy turns most red flags into simple corrections. The compliance checklist lists the records to keep.
If you suspect it
What should you do if you suspect a false claim?
Establish the facts, hear the employee, then deal with the money and the tax separately from any discipline.
1. Check the facts quietly
Secure the claims, the approvals and any logs. Compare them with the route, the times, the diary and leave records. Check whether the policy was clear and how others were treated.
2. Ask before deciding
Put the specific claims to the employee and let them explain, with representation if it becomes disciplinary. Keep the investigation independent of anyone involved in the claims.[7][9]
3. Recover and correct
Agree repayment of what was overpaid. Where tax-free payments didn't qualify, correct payroll and your ERR reporting for the periods affected.[1][4]
4. Fix the tax with Revenue
Self-correction without penalty is available within time limits (for PAYE, broadly before the income or corporation tax return date for the period). After that, an unprompted qualifying disclosure carries the lowest penalties.[5]
If you are the one who noticed
A worker who reasonably believes information shows an offence, a failure to comply with a legal obligation, or an "unlawful or otherwise improper use of funds or resources of a public body, or of other public money" can make a protected disclosure and is protected from penalisation for it.[10] Employers with 50 or more employees, and every public body regardless of size, must operate internal reporting channels.[10]
One limit: a matter isn't a relevant wrongdoing if it is the worker's own job, or the employer's function, to detect or investigate it, unless it involves an act or omission by the employer.[10]
Directors are covered tooRevenue's rules apply to office holders, including directors, as well as employees.[1] See directors' travel expenses and the Revenue audit triggers guide.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is expense reimbursement fraud?
For travel and subsistence, it is knowingly claiming mileage or an allowance that wasn't incurred or isn't due: kilometres that weren't driven, a trip that didn't happen, a day rate for an absence that didn't pass the 5-hour or 8 km test, or the same cost claimed twice. Irish criminal law requires dishonesty, which the Theft and Fraud Offences Act defines as acting without a claim of right made in good faith.
Is an incorrect mileage claim fraud?
Not by itself. Many wrong claims come from a wrong start point, a rounded distance or a misunderstood rule. Revenue separates innocent errors, careless behaviour and deliberate behaviour, and only deliberate behaviour needs indicators of intent, such as providing false or misleading documents. Treat a flag as a question to ask, not a finding.
What are the most common red flags on a travel and subsistence claim?
Kilometres well over the mapped route, mileage claimed from the office when the trip started at home, a day rate for under 5 hours or within 8 km of home or the normal place of work, an overnight within 100 km, a day rate on top of a night for a trip shorter than 29 hours, a flat allowance plus a receipted meal for the same time, two people claiming one car journey, an electric car claimed at the over-1,500cc rate, and claims for days the employee was on leave.
Is an overpaid mileage or subsistence allowance taxable?
Yes. Revenue only treats a payment as a tax-free reimbursement if it meets its conditions. Anything that doesn't, such as commuting mileage or a round sum paid regardless of travel, is pay and should go through payroll with PAYE, PRSI and USC. Where pay is labelled as expenses, Revenue says it will consider whether fraud or neglect is involved or a Revenue offence committed.
Can an employee be dismissed for falsifying a mileage claim?
Deliberate dishonesty can justify dismissal, but only after a fair procedure: the allegation put to the employee, a chance to respond, the right to representation, an impartial decision and an appeal. In ADJ-00028110 an employer dismissed a worker partly over a mileage claim for a month with no travel, without any procedure, and the WRC found the dismissal unfair.
Is expense fraud a criminal offence in Ireland?
It can be. Under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, dishonestly inducing someone to pay by deception carries up to 5 years on indictment (section 6), and dishonestly falsifying an account or a document made or required for an accounting purpose carries up to 10 years (section 10). Both need dishonesty and an intention to make a gain or cause a loss.
Does ERR mean Revenue sees every expense claim?
Revenue sees every tax-free payment, not every trip. Since 1 January 2024 employers report the amount, the date and the category (for example travel unvouched or subsistence unvouched) of each tax-free travel and subsistence payment, on or before paying it. The trip details stay in the employer's records, which must be kept for six years after the end of the tax year.
What should an employer do if it finds over-claimed expenses?
Check the claim against the route, the times and the employee's records, then put the issue to the employee and let them explain. Recover what was overpaid. If tax-free payments didn't qualify, correct payroll: Revenue allows self-correction without penalty within set time limits, and a qualifying disclosure before an audit notice brings much lower penalties than a default Revenue finds.
Can an employee report a colleague's or manager's false claims safely?
Yes, as a protected disclosure, where the worker reasonably believes the information shows an offence, a breach of a legal obligation, or the improper use of public money. Employers with 50 or more employees, and all public bodies, must run internal reporting channels. The Act doesn't cover matters it is the worker's own job to detect, unless the employer itself is involved.
Sources
Where these facts come from
Revenue, the civil service circulars, Irish legislation, published WRC and EAT decisions, and reporting on Irish public-sector audits.
- Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06: Tax treatment of the reimbursement of expenses of travel and subsistenceRevenue Commissioners (last reviewed September 2026)Chapter 1.2 (remuneration mislabelled as expenses), 1.3 (records, six years), 1.4 (ERR), 2.1 (conditions), 2.4 (home to work is taxable), 2.5.2 (flat rates and the "satisfactory recording and internal control system"), 3.3 (round sums), 4.2 (8 km and 100 km tests), 4.3 (lesser of home or base), Appendix 1 (rates, EVs).
- Circular 11/82: Travelling and Subsistence RegulationsDepartment of Finance / Department of the Public ServiceParagraphs 2 (shortest practicable route), 3 (not a source of profit), 6 (avoid duplicate use of cars), 13–14 (home and headquarters), 16 and 19 (the 29-hour rule), 27 (subsistence stops during leave).
- Circular 05/2015: Subsistence AllowancesDepartment of Public Expenditure and ReformFrom 1 July 2015: no day allowance within 8 km, and generally no overnight allowance within 100 km, of headquarters or home, whichever is the lesser.
- Tax and Duty Manual Part 38-03-33: Enhanced Reporting RequirementsRevenue Commissioners (reviewed September 2026)Sections 2, 3 and 5: report on or before payment; amount, date and subcategory for each travel and subsistence payment.
- Code of Practice for Revenue Compliance InterventionsRevenue Commissioners (effective 1 May 2022)Sections 2.2–2.3 (self-correction, innocent error), 2.13–2.14 (penalty tables), 4.3 (interest), 4.6 (deliberate and careless behaviour).
- Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 (revised)Law Reform Commission, Revised Acts (updated to 1 November 2023)Section 2 ("dishonestly"), section 6 (making gain or causing loss by deception) and section 10 (false accounting).
- S.I. No. 146/2000: Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary ProceduresIrish Statute BookParagraph 4.6: the principles of natural justice and fair procedures.
- ADJ-00028110: A shop employee v Total Tiles LtdWorkplace Relations Commission (31 March 2022)Dismissal partly over a mileage claim for a month with no travel; unfair because no procedures were followed.
- UD2376/2010: An employee v a coursing club and a newspaperEmployment Appeals Tribunal (heard 2012–2013; listed March 2014)Payments described as mileage examined after dismissal for falsifying accounts; unfair because the investigation was not independent enough; €35,000 awarded.
- Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (revised, as amended in 2022)Law Reform Commission, Revised ActsSection 5(3) (relevant wrongdoings), 5(5) (matters the worker's own job is to detect) and 6(3)–(4) (internal reporting channels for employers with 50 or more employees, and all public bodies).
- Internal audits from local authorities in Donegal, Kildare, and WexfordTheStory.ie, Ken Foxe (16 July 2021)Donegal County Council internal audit of travel and subsistence claims, released under FOI.
- "Potential systemic overpayments" in travel expense claimsIrish Medical Times, Michael McHale (11 June 2026)HSE internal audit of travel and subsistence claims and the National Travel and Subsistence Unit.
- Gardaí claiming overnight allowances for trips that never happened, audit findsIrish Examiner, Ken Foxe (8 May 2022)Garda internal audit of travel and subsistence payments at the Garda College.
- Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the NationsAssociation of Certified Fraud Examiners (global study, 1,921 cases in 138 countries)Expense reimbursement schemes: 13% of cases, median loss $50,000, median duration 18 months. Covers all expense types, not only travel.
Checked against these sources on 11 October 2026. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Whether a claim is dishonest, and what to do about it, depends on the facts; take advice on your own situation.
Keep reading
Related guides
Expense.ie
Catch the red flags before you pay
Expense.ie works out kilometres from the mapped route, applies the time and distance tests to each allowance, warns about likely duplicates, keeps the trip records Revenue asks for, and builds the ERR file.
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