# Domestic employer not eligible for TWSS



## lucky23 (12 Nov 2020)

I employ a childminder in my home part-time, in March/April/May/June during the first batch of restrictions, i applied for and received the wage subsidy for our childminder as she was not allowed to come to our home to work.
My wife is a nurse and therefore the role of the childminder was left to me. I work in a full-time PAYE job. I took many days off and hours off as a result.

Before applying for the subsidy, i contacted revenue to ask if i was eligible and got quite a generic response laying out who could claim and our circumstances seemed to fit the criteria (i.e. be unable to pay normal wages and normal outgoings fully ).

I have now received a letter from revenue to say domestic employers were not eligible and therefore i need to refund the entire amounts received.

Had we known this back in March, we would have asked the childminder to apply for the PUP herself to supplement her income, she works part-time only so this should have been close to what she was getting from us, but as she has a mortgage etc, we wanted to try and keep her on the books so there were no gaps in her employment history. Keeping employees on the books was the main aim of the TWSS scheme i thought!

I called revenue and the person i spoke to was sympathetic to my circumstances and told me they were dealing with many calls from people in the same boat, I was advised to document my arguments and send in so they can collate similar cases and bring to "management" to see if the decision can be reversed.

Would welcome any thoughts as to my chances on a successful outcome here, i'm not confident but also, what kind of language do i need to use with revenue to convey my points? 

The PUP cant be backdated to the employee for the time they were not working for us, so paying this back would sting for a while.


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## Dublin1979 (28 Jan 2021)

Hi

There are alot of people in the same situation and Revenue are digging their heels in. It's quite unfair given that the large proportion of people employing a childminder do so "under the table".

It needs to be highlighted either in the press or with your td.

Revenue have the power to use their discretion, and furthermore, they are obliged to apply the legislation in a fair and reasonable manner.


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## Dublin1979 (28 Jan 2021)

What's your constituency.  Everyone who is being chased by revenue over this needs to raise it with their TD.


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## lucky23 (29 Jan 2021)

Dublin1979 said:


> What's your constituency.  Everyone who is being chased by revenue over this needs to raise it with their TD.


Thx Dublin1979 - i did do that with 2 of my local TD's - one raised a question in the Dail and got an answer that referred back to the legislation. The other one agreed that there should be a mechanism to claim back via PUP, (as the employee would have actually recieved more on PUP), but, i have no idea where that lies, or how it would even work....
Im resigned to paying it at this stage.....but havent quite given up yet.


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