Leaving Ireland soon, employer of years said that they will terminate my job because I can't be a freelancer, even though the company has many doing so abroad. What are the rules here?
Hey guys. I'm leaving Ireland soon, going to Portugal. I work for a company that has a good part of the workforce working as freelancers, including a couple of my colleagues who are already waiting for me in Portugal.
I'm on my 3rd consecutive full time year with this company. I told HR today about this, and the head of department said that my employment will end as soon as I leave Ireland because the company won't be able to claim the tax break if I'm not resident and working here physically.
Then I asked them if I will at least be considered when they need someone in my position (high demand, low offer, so they will need more like me), but they said the company can't hire me until 2027, according to Revenue's rules.
Said rules say that if I'm resident in Ireland in the same year (2026) for more than 180 days, I cannot start freelancing in Ireland from abroad. They said it's a very strict rule, so they won't be able to hire me for the rest of this year, which totally destroys my plans unless I'm super lucky and I can get a new job as fast as possible.
I tried searching for this famed Revenue rule, but I can't find anything, maybe because I'm burnout with the moving. The question is, where can I find more about this rule?
I don't want to call HR and the company liars, but this is definitely something very, very odd. Even my team lead was confused, what with half of our team being freelance and all. What do you think?