Barriers facing south Armagh cross-border workers highlighted amid calls for tax reform
A Newry and Armagh MLA has called for urgent action to remove the tax and payroll barriers preventing people living in Northern Ireland from accessing remote working opportunities with employers in the South of Ireland.
Speaking during an Assembly debate on the all-island labour market raised by Foyle MLA Padraig Delargy, Sinn Féin MLA Aoife Finnegan highlighted the difficulties facing workers in border communities, particularly in south Armagh, where many people live closer to towns in Counties Louth and Monaghan than to larger towns across the country.
She said it was unacceptable that people continued to face barriers to employment simply because of where they lived, despite the increasingly interconnected nature of the all-island economy.
“Workers with the same skills and ability, doing the same job for the same employer, can have different access to remote working because their homes are in different jurisdictions,” she said.
Ms Finnegan pointed out that neighbours living only a short distance apart could work for the same employer, yet one could work remotely while the other faced additional tax and payroll complications.
“Where you live should never decide your opportunities, yet geography becomes the hurdle, and a person’s home address becomes their disadvantage,” she added.
Referring to the Ireland and Northern Ireland – A Joint Census Publication 2021-2022, Ms Finnegan highlighted that more than 18,000 people regularly travel in both directions across the border for work.
She said these workers deserved arrangements that recognised and supported their contribution to an all-island economy.
Ms Finnegan explained that people living in the North but employed in the South could face additional tax and payroll requirements that prevent them from working remotely, even when their employer is happy for them to do so.
She also highlighted the difficulties created by the interaction between remote working arrangements and transborder workers’ relief, arguing that workers should be able to avail themselves of remote and hybrid working without losing tax relief or facing additional financial burdens.
The Sinn Féin MLA said the complications also affected employers, particularly smaller businesses, which could face additional payroll requirements, accountancy costs and uncertainty around tax and social insurance obligations.
She warned that these barriers could discourage cross-border recruitment, meaning workers miss out on employment opportunities, employers lose access to valuable skills and the wider economy loses out.
Drawing on her own experience of living in a border community, Ms Finnegan also outlined the wider financial challenges facing cross-border workers and their families.
“I know, from talking to many constituents and my family, what it means to fall between two jurisdictions while trying to earn a living,” she continued.
“In some cases, taking a job a few miles down the road can bring complications that affect the finances of an entire household. Very few lenders will consider euro income for mortgages. That, therefore, restricts access to the property ladder for young families who are looking to find a home but cannot due to their address and currency.”
She also pointed to complications accessing joint bank accounts, completing tax returns in two jurisdictions and meeting professional accountancy fees.
“People should not have to become experts in two tax systems in order to simply work close to home,” she said.
Ms Finnegan welcomed the Finance Minister’s recent engagement with Chartered Accountants Ireland, which has been working to find solutions to the issues affecting cross-border workers.
She called on the Minister to write to the Governments in Dublin and London to seek a bilateral agreement that would address the difficulties, reinstate transborder workers’ relief and simplify payroll obligations.
She said: “That agreement must address remote working and transborder workers’ relief, simplify payroll obligations and provide certainty for workers and employers in both directions.”
Concluding, Ms Finnegan stressed that while greater all-island economic cooperation was important, workers could not be left waiting for longer-term political change.
“Clear information matters, but explaining the barriers is not enough; the purpose must be to remove them.”
The Assembly subsequently agreed the motion, calling for a bilateral agreement between the British and Irish Governments to reinstate transborder workers’ relief and remove the barriers preventing cross-border workers from accessing remote working opportunities.