Ireland travel expense policy template
Every tax-free travel payment in Ireland must satisfy three strict conditions set by Revenue. Since January 2024, Enhanced Reporting Requirements mean Revenue sees every payment as it is reported. A compliant, well-documented policy is no longer optional: it is the difference between tax-free reimbursement and a PAYE, PRSI and USC liability on every euro paid.
- Conditions every tax-free travel payment must pass
- 3
- Conditions every tax-free travel payment must pass
- The test
- Policy sections, 5 of them essential
- 6
- Policy sections, 5 of them essential
- Sections
- A sensible internal deadline for submitting claims
- 30 days
- A sensible internal deadline for submitting claims
- Submission
- Record retention after the tax year (section 886 TCA 1997)
- 6 yrs
- Record retention after the tax year (section 886 TCA 1997)
- Records
The three-condition test
Every tax-free travel payment your company makes must pass all three. Fail any one, and the entire amount is taxable.
The employee must be away from their normal place of work in the performance of their duties.
"Wholly, exclusively and necessarily", per section 114 TCA 1997.
Meals and accommodation must attach to a qualifying business journey.
For the full breakdown, including the NPW decision helper and the penalty framework, see our compliance checklist.
Where Irish companies most commonly fail this test
Treating home as the NPW for hybrid workers
Paying round sum "car allowances"
Paying subsistence within 8 km of home and NPW
Reimbursing above Civil Service rates without taxing the excess
Current rates for your policy
The exact figures your policy should reference: mileage from Circular 16/2022 (September 2022), subsistence from Circular 04/2025 (January 2025).
Those rates, applied for you
No manual lookups, no rate-table mistakes. Watch a trip being built: each leg is rated at the civil service rates for the car's engine size and band, and subsistence follows the time away.
Policy section builder
Your policy needs these six sections. Pick one to see the clauses it should contain, in plain language you can adapt for your company.
Normal Place of Work
The foundation of every compliant policy. Revenue will look at this first.
- 1Define each employee's normal place of work (NPW) in writing — typically the office or premises where the employer provides facilities for work.
- 2State explicitly that home is not the NPW unless there is an objective operational requirement that duties must be performed at home because they cannot be performed elsewhere.
- 3For hybrid workers: confirm the office remains the NPW regardless of how many days are spent working from home. Travel from home to the office is private commuting.
- 4For employees with no fixed office (field-based roles): define the NPW as the location to which they are primarily assigned or the employer's nearest premises.
- 5Include a review mechanism — NPW should be reassessed if an employee's working pattern changes permanently.
Source: Revenue TDM Part 05-01-06, Section 2
Rules by worker type
Revenue applies different rules depending on who is claiming. Your policy should address each worker type in your organisation.
Employees
Reimbursed at Civil Service flat rates (no receipts) or vouched costs. ERR reporting mandatory. The "necessarily incurred in the performance of duties" test applies to all claims.
Directors
Same PAYE rules as employees, but Revenue applies heightened scrutiny. Travel between separate directorships is commuting, not business travel.
Contractors via intermediary
NPW is the client's premises. Home-to-client travel is commuting. Travel between client sites qualifies as business travel.
For the full rules per worker type — statutory tests, NPW determination and key case law — see our compliance checklist.
ERR reporting: what changed
Since January 2024, Revenue sees every tax-free expense payment as it is reported. The biggest shift in Irish expense compliance in decades.
Under section 897C TCA 1997, every tax-free travel and subsistence payment must be reported to Revenue through ROS on or before the payment date. This applies to both vouched and unvouched (flat-rate) payments. From 1 January 2027, Budget 2027 adds the option to report by the 14th of the month after the payment instead. Your policy must assign responsibility for this filing to a named role — typically payroll or finance.
ERR started in January 2024. Revenue did not seek penalties during 2024, treated 2025 as a bedding-in period, and has signalled increased enforcement from 2026.
Non-compliance can mean the payments become taxable, plus interest and penalties. See the penalty framework in our compliance checklist and the ERR compliance guide.
Set a 30-day submission window
There is no statutory deadline for internal expense submission, but a 30-day window in your policy means claims are processed and the ERR return filed before the payment date. Late internal submissions create a compliance gap: either you delay payment and frustrate employees, or you file the ERR return late and risk scrutiny.
International travel policy clauses
Foreign subsistence rates under Circular 07/2017 haven't been updated in more than nine years. Your policy should address the gap.
The last time foreign rates were updated.
Tapering: month 1 / months 2–3 / months 4–6.
The overnight rate for month 1, then reasonable accommodation plus 50% of the 10-hour day rate.
- Foreign subsistence rates are governed by Circular 07/2017. For destinations where flat rates are inadequate, the company will reimburse vouched actual expenses with receipts — costs must be reasonable and necessarily incurred.
- Employees must confirm rates with finance before departure for destinations not explicitly listed in the circular.
- For a foreign assignment of six months or less, the overnight rate is 100% in month 1, 75% in months 2 and 3 and 50% in months 4 to 6. Vouched costs may be used where higher. The taper is not for ordinary business trips.
- Neither Circular 07/2017 nor Revenue’s manual says which exchange rate to use (Note 3 of the circular points to the Central Bank or an associated bank). Choose one published source, apply it the same way to every claim (for example, the rate on the first day of travel) and record the rate and date.
Journey records: your policy's foundation
Your policy must require six specific data points per journey. Omit any one and Revenue can disallow the entire claim.
Journey records, captured automatically
Log the journey, let the rates be applied, then export the records: the claim carries its journey details into the month's report, the ERR file for ROS and the audit trail.
Vouched vs flat-rate: choosing your method
One of the first decisions your policy must make. Each has trade-offs, and you cannot mix them for the same expense type.
Flat-rate (Civil Service rates)
- No receipts required from employees
- Simpler to administer — fixed amounts per category
- No Revenue pre-approval needed
- Rates may not cover actual costs (especially overnight in Dublin or international travel)
- Journey records still mandatory — missing records make the payment taxable
Vouched (actual costs)
- Reimburses actual costs — fairer for expensive locations
- No fixed cap (costs must be reasonable)
- Better for international travel where the 2017 flat rates are outdated
- Requires receipts for every claim — more admin
- Receipts must be retained for 6 years alongside journey records
Related guides
Disclaimer: This guide is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. While we have checked the rates and rules against official Revenue.ie source documents and Department of Public Expenditure circulars, regulations change. Employers should consult a qualified tax adviser or chartered accountant when drafting their company travel and subsistence policy. Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual Part 05-01-06 is the definitive reference. Expense.ie is a software platform, not an accounting or tax advisory firm.
Revenue.ie — Civil Service RatesTDM Part 05-01-06 (Travel & Subsistence)Revenue.ie — Normal Place of WorkRevenue.ie — Records to Be Kept
Stop building policies in spreadsheets
Expense.ie enforces the rules on this page: current rates, ERR-ready exports, mandatory journey fields and a full audit trail, built for Irish Revenue compliance.