# PAYE explained for newcomers | Work and tax | Moving to Ireland > If you are employed in Ireland, you almost never send money to the tax office yourself. Instead your employer calculates the tax on each payslip and pays… Source: https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/paye-explained-for-newcomers/ Work and tax · Step 3 of 6 # PAYE explained for newcomers 4 min read · Updated 13 September 2026 If you are employed in Ireland, you almost never send money to the tax office yourself. Instead your employer calculates the tax on each payslip and pays it over to Revenue on your behalf. That system is called Pay As You Earn, or PAYE. It is efficient once it is set up correctly, but a newcomer who does not understand how it works can lose a large slice of their first few pay packets to emergency tax. This guide explains the mechanics, what each line on your payslip means, and when money comes back to you. ## How the system works Everything in PAYE hinges on a document you never see: the **Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN)**. When your employer registers you as a new starter, their payroll software asks Revenue for an RPN in your name. The RPN tells the employer your tax credits, the width of your standard rate band, your USC rates and whether any of these should be applied on a cumulative basis or week by week. Revenue in turn builds the RPN from what it knows about you: your PPS number, your other jobs, your marital status and any credits you have claimed in myAccount. Since 2019 Irish payroll has operated in real time. Every time you are paid, your employer reports the pay and deductions to Revenue on or before payday. That is why you can log in to myAccount and see your year-to-date pay within days. It also means mistakes are corrected quickly: update your details with Revenue and a new RPN normally reaches your employer before the next pay run. ## Cumulative basis versus week 1 basis The normal method is the **cumulative basis**. Your annual credits and rate band are spread across the year, and each payday the payroll looks at your total pay and total tax so far. If you started in June, the credits for January to May are still available, so you may pay almost no tax until you have used them up. The alternative is the **week 1 or month 1 basis**, where each payslip is calculated in isolation. Revenue applies week 1 when it is unsure of your circumstances, for example when you have moved between jobs and the old employer has not yet reported your final pay. It is not a penalty, but it can leave you overpaid, which is settled when you file a return after year end. ## Emergency tax Emergency tax applies when the employer cannot get an RPN for you. There are two versions, and the difference is big.
SituationIncome tax chargedUSC charged
PPS number given, but job not registered with RevenueWeeks 1 to 4: 20% up to the single rate band cut-off (€44,000 a year, or €846 a week) and 40% above, with no credits. Week 5 onwards: 40% on everything.8% on all pay
No PPS number given to employer40% on everything from the first payslip8% on all pay
On a €3,000 monthly salary the emergency deductions in month 2 onwards can exceed €1,400. Avoiding this takes two steps: get a PPS number before or immediately after arrival, and register your job in myAccount if your employer has not done it for you (the article on Revenue myAccount in this section walks through the steps). Emergency tax is always refunded once your RPN is in place, usually through your next payslip on the cumulative basis. ## Reading an Irish payslip Payslip layouts vary, but the same lines appear on nearly all of them. - **Gross pay**: your salary for the period before any deductions, including overtime and bonuses. - **PAYE** or **Income tax**: the tax calculated from your rate band and credits. Some payslips show the credit and cut-off point used. - **USC**: the Universal Social Charge, shown separately because it has its own bands. - **PRSI EE**: your own social insurance contribution, 4.2% in Class A until 30 September 2026 and 4.35% from 1 October 2026. **PRSI ER** is the employer's contribution and is shown for information only. - **Pension**: any contribution to an occupational or auto-enrolment (My Future Fund) scheme. - **Insurable weeks**: the number of PRSI weeks credited in the period, which matters for your future benefit entitlements. - **Net pay**: what is transferred to your bank account. The year-to-date columns are the ones to watch. If they reset unexpectedly, or if the tax credit figure is zero, it usually means an RPN problem. ## When you get a refund Refunds arrive in three ways. First, through payroll: when a missing RPN arrives or you claim a new credit mid-year, the cumulative calculation gives back any overpayment in the next pay run. Second, if you leave a job and are out of work for more than 4 weeks, you can claim a refund of tax already paid through myAccount. Third, after the year ends, Revenue publishes a Preliminary End of Year Statement in myAccount every January. If you file an income tax return (Form 12 online), you receive a **Statement of Liability**, and any overpayment is transferred to your bank account, usually within a few days. You can go back **4 years**, so in 2026 you can still claim for 2022 onwards. Most people leave money on the table by not claiming credits: rent, medical expenses (20% of GP, consultant and prescription costs), the remote working relief and flat-rate expenses for certain trades all go through the same return. Set a reminder each January. ## ★ Useful links - [Citizens Information: tax and starting work](https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/starting-work-and-changing-job/starting-work/tax-and-starting-work/) - [Revenue: starting your first job](https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/starting-your-first-job/index.aspx) - [Revenue: emergency tax](https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/emergency-tax/index.aspx) - [Revenue: Statement of Liability](https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/end-of-year-process/statement-of-liability.aspx) - [Citizens Information: how to review your PAYE tax](https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money-and-tax/tax/income-tax/how-to-review-your-paye-tax/) ![](https://www.movingtoireland.co/apple-touch-icon.png) You have read 22% of this guide ## Keep reading in the Moving to Ireland app The rest of **PAYE explained for newcomers** — about 3 minutes more — is in the app, free to download, alongside 98 other guides and a checklist built around your own move. Still to come in this guide - Cumulative basis versus week 1 basis - Emergency tax - Reading an Irish payslip - When you get a refund [Download free on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/moving-to-ireland/id6446055261) iPhone and iPad · no account needed ## More on work and tax [All 6 guides in this section](https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/) - ### [Salary after tax in Ireland: what you actually take home](https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/salary-after-tax-in-ireland/) The salary in your job offer is a gross figure. Before it reaches your bank account, three separate deductions come off it: income tax, the Universal… 4 min read - ### [Minimum wage in Ireland 2026](https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/minimum-wage-ireland-2026/) Ireland has one of the higher statutory minimum wages in the EU, and it is reviewed every year on the advice of the Low Pay Commission. If you are… 4 min read - ### [Tax credits, USC and PRSI explained](https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/tax-credits-usc-and-prsi-explained/) Three separate sets of rules decide how much of your Irish salary you keep. Tax credits cut your income tax bill directly. USC is a second charge on the… 4 min read - ### [How to find a job in Ireland from abroad](https://www.movingtoireland.co/guides/work-and-tax/how-to-find-a-job-in-ireland/) Ireland has close to full employment, with unemployment hovering around 4 to 5% through 2025 and 2026, and many employers are used to hiring from… 4 min read Keep going ## Get the full work and tax roadmap in the app Moving to Ireland turns 99 guides into a personal checklist. 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