Conference Chairperson & Opening Remarks

ERR, BIK or Payroll? Meals, Travel, Vouchers, Training and Staff Events

Speaker: Gerard Keating – FCCA, MBA, Finance Professional and Lecturer

• Working lunches, team meals, seasonal events, accommodation, travel and vouchers
• When costs fall into ERR, BIK, payroll or neither
• Small benefit exemption reporting, voucher limits and common mistakes around multiple benefits
• Company card versus reimbursement issues and where confusion still arises
• Misreporting, corrections and record-keeping that stands up to scrutiny
• Practical process fixes between payroll, finance and employee expenses

MyFutureFund Live: Payroll, Eligibility, Opt-Outs and Year One Problems

Speaker: Stephen Gillick, Partner, Mason Hayes and Curran

• Who should be enrolled and where existing pension arrangements create complications
• Eligibility issues around age, earnings, existing pension deductions and multiple employments
• Probation, sick leave, maternity leave and joiner/mover scenarios
• Opt-out timing, overlap with occupational schemes and employer process boundaries
• Payroll setup, corrections and practical year one administration issues
• Questions employers should be asking now rather than after deductions go wrong

BIK Issues Employers Still Get Wrong

Speaker: Fiona Morgan, Tax Consultant, RDJ

• 2026 BIK treatment for company cars and zero-emission vehicles
• 2026 OMV reductions, zero-emission vehicle Category A1 and what still applies to electric vehicles versus hybrids
• OMV questions, vehicle categories and common employer misunderstandings
• Health insurance, gym contributions, professional subscriptions and other staff benefits
• Supplier-provided vehicles, fuel and awkward edge cases
• Where BIK, ERR and payroll treatment overlap and where they do not

Gender Pay Gap, Pay Transparency and Workforce Data Governance

Speaker: Ciara Ni Longaigh, Associate, Maples Group  

• Who is in scope for gender pay gap reporting and what employers should be doing now
• EU Pay Transparency Directive readiness and likely phased Irish implementation
• Pay range, equal pay and workforce data issues employers should prepare for now
• Payroll, HR and finance data alignment issues that create reporting risk
• Portal reporting developments and the direction of travel for employer obligations
• Year-end checks before 2027 setup
• Practical priorities for stronger workforce reporting governance

Remote Workers, International Hires and Cross-Border Payroll Exposure

Speaker: Sean Walsh, Employment Tax Advisory Services, Crowe

• Irish tax and social security issues for inbound and outbound workers
• Tracking days worked in Ireland and overseas to manage tax residence, PAYE and payroll risk
• Remote workers based in Northern Ireland, Europe and elsewhere
• SARP, Foreign Earnings Deduction and when international assignments create tax registration or payroll withholding issues
• Recharges, management charges and employer exposure
• Where cross-border working arrangements start creating payroll risk

Employment Permits, Salary Thresholds and Employer Costs: Tax and Payroll Issues in International Recruitment

Speaker: Declan Groarke, Managing Associate, Immigration, Lewis Silkin Ireland LLP

• March 2026 employment permit salary threshold increases and the phased roadmap to 2030
• Payroll and BIK issues around permit costs, relocation support and employer-paid expenses
• Distinguishing salary, employer support and taxable benefits
• Risks where immigration, payroll and tax treatment are handled separately
• What employers should review now before 2027 recruitment planning

Revenue Risk: What Your Payroll and Benefit Data Now Reveals

Speaker: Eimear Mulcahy, Manager – Tax Employer Solutions, Grant Thornton

• Common trigger points across ERR, BIK, benefits and payroll
• What a defensible audit trail looks like in practice
• Revenue interventions, corrections and voluntary disclosures
• Weak points in approval chains, support files and reporting logic
• Preparing for deeper scrutiny as reporting systems mature
• How payroll, finance and HR teams can reduce risk before Revenue queries arise

Payroll Errors, Corrections and Closed Payslips: Practical Fixes for 2026

• Overpayments, underpayments and late adjustments
• Correcting payroll where the payslip is already closed
• What to do where refunds, reversals or benefit adjustments arise after an employee leaves
• 2026 PRSI, USC and minimum wage changes affecting payroll setup, cost forecasting and employee queries
• Reconciliation issues between payroll, finance and benefit providers
• Building controls that reduce repeat errors and year-end clean-up

AI in Payroll and Workforce Systems: EU AI Act, GDPR and Governance Checks

• Where AI is now appearing in payroll, HR and workforce platforms
• EU AI Act readiness for HR, payroll and workforce tools classified as high-risk or transparency-risk systems
• Accuracy, human oversight and accountability where AI influences payroll or employee-related decisions
• Data protection risks around prompts, uploads, access and third-party processing
• Documentation, approvals and testing before relying on AI-enabled features
• What employers should be doing now to avoid governance gaps later