Revenue eBrief No. 81/11 sets out the niceties of the USC position for crossborder, “posted” and “frontier” workers and deals with issues arising from Double Taxation Agreements and from the holding of a medical card under Irish legislation.

An individuals’ entitlement to a full medical card determines the rate at which they are charged to the USC. The rate of USC ranges from 4% to 10% and individuals with an entitlement to a full medical card who are under 70 years of age are generally chargeable to USC at a maximum of 4%. If such an individual has income from self-employment income greater than €100,000 this rate is increased to 7%. In eBrief No. 81/11, Revenue clarify the position specifically for “cross-border” workers and look at the entitlement of ‘posted workers’ – those who continue to be subject to social security in their home state and ‘frontier workers’- typical those who are resident in one State and travel to another EU Member State for work, to a full medical card.

In light of a number of concerns expressed by some of our members on the application of the USC charge for “cross border workers”, all members should note that it is clarified in the eBrief that ‘frontier workers’ i.e. those resident in the State who travel to the UK to exercise their employment may not be subject to the USC on their UK employment income if they make a claim under section 825A TCA 1997 for “transborder relief”. It may also be helpful to note that Revenue have confirmed that they have written to Ireland's treaty partners informing them of the introduction of the USC and that it is covered by the treaty provisions, including relieving provisions.

The full text of eBrief No. 81/11 is reproduced on here.