The Irish Examiner View: Pandemic break for tax exiles

There are few things as irritating as a lecture from a well-tanned tax exile on how we might better manage our affairs. That applies even if those interventions are no more than an extreme version of offering emigrants a vote in our elections. Neither has any direct impact on the lives of those offering advice or voting yet one is scorned and the other is considered appropriate.

Irish citizens who have immigrated are not, despite considerable and misjudged pressure, able to vote in our elections. The pandemic is unlikely to change that any time soon. It has, however, moved the goalposts for our tax exiles.

Because of the pandemic Revenue has conceded that the usual 183-day tax-exempt residency offered to tax exiles can be extended if they can convince the taxman that they were grounded in Ireland because of the pandemic.

Revenue has said it will consider “force majeure” circumstances for those prevented from leaving the state due to “extraordinary natural occurrences or an exceptional third-party failure or action — none of which could reasonably have been foreseen and avoided”.

These include the travel ban, contracting the coronavirus, or a requirement to self-isolate. This is a generous, humane gesture but it will be more than interesting to see what kind of response the Revenue might offer to a small, struggling business unable to meet its tax obligations because of the very same “force majeure”.