Advice on starting a job in Ireland

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Starting a Job

Upon starting a job in Ireland you have to apply for PPS number (The Personal Public Service Number) for the tax purposes. That can be done by visiting one of the Social Welfare offices in your district. For the full list of them you can visit www.welfare.ie or call: (01) 7043000.

• Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, Dublin 1.
• Townsend Street, 157-164 Townsend St., Dublin 2
• ID ( Current Valid Passport) or Birth Certificate (long form preferred) together with valid photographic ID e.g. Full Driving Licence, Employment ID (with photo)
• Evidence of address

The following are acceptable documents showing address:

Household Bill, Official letter/document, financial statement, property lease or tenancy agreement, verified employer's letter. All documents must show the applicants name and address.

Notification of PPS Number

You will be advised of your new number through the issue of a letter of notification sent automatically to your address within 3 to 5 working days. This letter is acceptable as proof of one's number for transactions with specified bodies for public services e.g., health, education, Revenue, employment, drivers licence.

Then PPS has to be handed to your employer so that he/she can be advised by Revenue on your Tax Credits (your tax free allowance. Until that time you will be on Emergency Tax. It means that you will be given a temporary tax-free allowance for the first month of employment but tax deductions will be increased progressively from the second month onwards. The effect of emergency basis is that after 4 weeks, no tax-free allowances are given and tax is paid at the higher rate from week 9, regardless of the level of pay. It makes sense therefore to avoid the emergency basis by getting your PPS as soon as possible. For more information you should contact the Revenue office:

Revenue Commissioners 9/15 Upper O'Connell Street, Dublin 1. Tel: 1890 333 425 Pon- Pt: 9:30 - 17:00 www.revenue.ie

On leaving the job the employer must issue P45 form for you that you have to present to the Revenue. Form P45 is a certificate showing that your employer correctly deducted tax and PRSI from your pay in accordance with the instructions given by the district office.

PRSI (Personal Related Social Insurance) is the money you pay towards your social insurance.

• Gross pay to date of leaving
• Tax deducted to date of leaving
• PRSI deducted to date of leaving and number of insurable weeks
• The tax credits, standard rate cut-off point and tax table in operation.

At the end of each tax year your employer must give you a certificate of pay and of the tax and PRSI deducted by him or her during the year. This certificate is called a form P60 and comes in two parts. It is your record of:

Form P60

• the pay you received from your employer
• the tax deducted under PAYE and
• the PRSI contributions deducted.

Contract of Employment
Make sure that you sign the contract before you start working. The contract should be issued in two copies, both of which should be signed by you and your employer. Read the contract carefully and check if it has all the necessary information included. For the detailed list of what a contract should include you can visit our Employment Rights section, click here .

There are two ways of payment in Ireland:

• Wages - paid on weekly basis
• Salary - paid on monthly basis

Please be advised that if you are paid weekly, you will not get the wages until the second week of the work only!