PUP recipients will face a tax burden and that has "always been the intention", according to Finance Minister Paschal Donhoe.
The Oireachtas Finance Committee this morning voted in favour of the pandemic unemployment payment being subject to tax.
Thus far people have not had to pay tax on the scheme which started in March but the Minister has confirmed that it was always the plan.
Minister Donohoe said today: "I want to make clear though, from the very start, the intention of the government was that those payments would be taxed and they will be treated in the same way as we tax other equivalent social welfare payments."
Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty slammed the decision and accused the Minister of trying to "rewind back the clock".
Earlier this month a spokesperson for the Revenue Office confirmed that the Government will be slapping them with a tax bill – though it will be staggered over four years in order to "minimise any hardship".
At the end of 2020, those who've claimed pandemic-related social welfare payments will get an end-of-year statement that tells them how much they owe in income tax.
They will have the opportunity to fully or partially repay the amount they owe, or else Revenue will collect back – in the form of reduced tax credits – over four years.
Those who don't cough up the taxes they owe will start to see reductions in their tax credits from January 2022 onwards, the spokesperson told the Irish Mirror.
