Donegal TD Charles Ward has called on the Minister for Finance to amend the Finance Act to exempt emergency response drivers from having to pay Benefit in Kind.
It’s after it emerged that following a decision by Revenue, seven senior ambulance service personnel in Donegal who would have brought their official vehicles home for use at night if necessary are now to have the tax rate applied.
Calling the move ‘crazy’, he said the health benefit to a community of having an ambulance close by is priceless.
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Statement in full –
Deputy Charles Ward has called on the Minister for Finance to amend the Finance Act so as to exempt emergency responce drivers from having to pay Benefit in Kind (BIK). He described the recent decision whereby ambulance drivers who bring their ambulance home and are effectively on duty throughout the night to be taxed by Revenue for the use of the vehicle as crazy.
In Donegal it is reported that 7 such drivers may be affected.
The health benefit to the community of having the ambulance and it’s driver present in a rural community is priceless, having to wait for an ambulance from Letterkenny or another location in the county could cost lives.
Deputy Ward said “it was ironic that if an employee was given a work van by his employer and it was taken home at night and not used for personal or private use, that employee is exempt from paying BIK. Yet The Revenue Commissioners have decided to apply a tax on emergancy response drivers for providing a health service in their local community. What a farcical situation to have, particularly when the Government should be encouraging more health services to be provided as locally as possible.”
