FCI seek Mini-Jobs Taxation Reform ahead of Budget 2026

The Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland has called on the Minister for Finance and the Revenue Commission to implement a Mini-Job or Short-Term Worker Taxation Style system in its pre-budget 2026 submission.

This would allow seasonal agricultural and forestry contractors to deduct a flat rate of tax and social security contributions at 30%, in addition to accident insurance contributions of 1.3%, for seasonal and part-time workers who are already engaged in other employment.

“The combination of high personal taxation levels and high employment levels are making it difficult to employ part-time or short-term seasonal employees in our sector which provides essential seasonal machinery services to more than 90% of Irish farms,” said John Hughes, National Chair of the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).

“The Association believes that adopting the German Mini-Job system would allow the Irish Agricultural and Forestry Contractor and the Farming sector to maintain and develop the necessary financial foundations for longer-term sustainability by making seasonal part-time employment in the agricultural sector more attractive,” he added.

“This high-cost employment situation based around the current tax credits system is now leading to a significant shortage of seasonal employees on which the Agricultural and forestry Contractors and farming sectors depend to operate machines during the peak and highly seasonal work demands of the Irish farming year,” said John Hughes.

FCI estimates that of the 20,000 employees in the sector, in the region of 14,000 are part-time and seasonal employees. These part-time employees come from a range of existing employment across many industries and have worked weekends and during their holidays to support the harvesting efforts of agricultural contractors as they strive to meet the seasonal needs of Irish farming.

“The number of available part-time employees is declining significantly as it is no longer financially attractive for seasonal employees to work in our sector due to high personal taxation issues,” according to the FCI National Chair.

“It is also no longer possible for employers in our sector to secure the necessary funds to make worthwhile payments to seasonal workers while striving to provide cost-effective and high technology machinery services to the Irish farming and food sector.

There is an urgent requirement to put in place a personal taxation system that reflects the realities of the agricultural sector which is seasonal and highly weather dependent, and the German Government has provided the solution with the Mini-Job system that we urgently need to adopt,” he added.

The proposed model would be similar to what is currently in use in Germany where seasonal workers are treated as a special case so they can work for a maximum of three months or 70 days, and it is considered a short-term mini job. The amount of the wage is irrelevant and there is no fixed income limit, provided that it is not the employee's main source of income. Employers and employees do not pay social security contributions. The employer must pay accident insurance for each short-term employee.

The work must be occasional, not recurring and not run for more than a maximum of 18

consecutive days. The daily wage cannot exceed €150 (as of 2024) and the employer deducts a flat-rate tax of 25%. Social security contributions are generally not applicable for short-term Employment.

This allows part-time workers (Mini-Jobbers) who operate machines in agriculture to earn up to €556 per month tax and social security contribution-free in 2025. This equates to an hourly wage of €12.82 (the current statutory minimum wage) and an approximate monthly working time of 43 hours.

In Ireland this would equate to earning up to €648 per month tax and social security contribution-free in 2025 as this is based on an Irish hourly wage of €13.50 per hour (the current statutory minimum wage which is 5% higher than the German rate) and an approximate monthly working time of 48 hours over a four month period.

Speaking to Midlands 103 programme Country Life on July 30, Michael Moroney said: ““It makes doing extra work like a contractor on a seasonal basis worthwhile. That’s the basis of our submission. We think that seasonal work has to be made more attractive. If it is not more attractive we will continue to face a shortage of labour currently experienced in the sector.

“FCI have identified this as a huge challenge. We cannot sustain a sector if it is not tax efficient from the point of view of an employee. We know the system works in Germany and we’ve seen how it operates. It works very well and contractors are very happy with it.”