Non-residency status and tax refund

Hi All. Can someone please let me know if it is necessary to pay tax in another country before a "PAYE exclusion order" for current tax year or a tax refund for a previous year will be granted.

I know that it is necessary to be employed by a Irish employer but be in Ireland less than 183 days in a tax year or less than 280 days if claiming a 2nd year in a row but there are no clear details that I can find on necessary tax payments in another country. A string of Short term contracts in different countries will not make it possible to pay tax anywhere other than your own country.

Someone I know is trying to claim this status of non-residence but now has been told that if no tax paid anywhere else that he is not eligible. Can someone confirm please ?

Seriously complicated area Vinny, Revenue aren't in the habit of granting exclusion orders anymore.

Firstly assuming you are non-residence in Ireland you would of course have to provide Revenue with details of how and when the Income from Ireland would be taxed. Your sentence about a string of short term contracts sounds very like an argument I've heard in a Revenue Audit...not made by myself of course!

Of course it is possible to pay tax elsewhere apart from your own country, you are liable to tax in each country but by concession Revenue allow your employer to pay you without the deduction of PAYE as this gets rid of some of the administrative nightmare.

However since double taxation treaties have become the norm PAYE exclusion orders have fallen dramatically. The manner in which you should claim relief, is pay the tax in the source country and then claim the appropriate relief through double taxation treaties.

This is a matter for a tax adviser..... Seek help!!

Is becoming "non-resident" anyway beneficial to the individual then or is it only there as a method of re-imbursment in case of having to pay your "PAYE" to a country with dual tax agreement after becoming "tax resident" in that country....183 days++ spent working in that country ?

What about the countries without "dual agreements" ?? It should say that these are N/A then on revenue website...should not be counted ??

"A string of short contracts" sounds like he's self employed or a contractor. In that case, if he is not resident in Ireland, I guess tax is due wherever he is resident (difficult to determine).

AFAIK the PAYE exclusion order is if you are working for an Irish company on the Irish payroll but living abroad. If the foreign country has a lower tax rate, then this might be beneficial as you could pay your tax there. But you then also have to think about PRSI and health insurance

"A string of short term contracts" is only describing time spent in individual coutries. Full time employed by an Irish company but most of work is done outside country...assignments lasting only one or 2 months on average.

Ok, so AFAIK yes he has to pay tax in another country to get the "PAYE exclusion order". Only worth doing if the other country has a lower tax rate than Ireland.

There used to be the abillity to claim tax back for days spent out of the country any time you spent more than (I think) 11 days in a row out of the country. However that was abolished in 2003.

So I think he will have to pay Irish PAYE.