Employee expenses

Hi there,

From the Revenue leaflet "Employee Subsistence Expenses" IT54:

An employee retains the option to claim an expense deduction
in respect of actual allowable subsistence expenses. Where the
employee decides to make such claims, any re-imbursement of
expenses by the employer, including any flat-rate allowances,
would be regarded as pay and taxable accordingly.

I would like to understand the practical implications if an employee opts for the above:

Does the employee submit a claim for receipted expenses at the end of the tax year?

If so, is there a separate form that is used for this purpose?

Does the employee submit the actual receipts to the Revenue as part of the claim or, are they retained for possible inspection at a later date?

Does the employer have any role in the reclaim process or is it a process that happens exclusively between the Revenue and the employee?

Is there a practical and objective guide to what constitutes legitimate subsistence expenses (other than the rather arcane "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" test)?


Thanks in advance...


Lamped

It is very unusual for an employee to be in a situation where they are incurring tax deductible expenditure which is not been reimbursed by their employer.
IT54 mainly caters for situations where an employer is reimbursing an employee for travel and subsistence expense.
It allows them to pay flat rate expenses rather than having to require employees to produce receipts. Civil servants are paid flat rate expenses when they travel and IT54 gives employers the option of using this scheme also.

Most employees would simply not incur this kind of expenditure if they were not reimbursed by their employer