Setting up a company Payroll in Ireland for the first time? Finally got to the stage when you can afford to pay an employee and perhaps even yourself but don’t know where to start?
Firstly, WELL DONE It’s a huge achievement to be at the stage that you can afford to pay yourself and others.
For the novice, running a payroll can be daunting so we have put together some information that will guide you along the way.
Setting up a company payroll in Ireland
As an employer you are obliged to inform Revenue of the details of any payruns “on or before” the day you make the payment to the employees. To get yourself ready to make the submission to Revenue follow the below steps.
- Register your company with the Companies Registration office (CRO)
- Apply for your Tax reference number online with Revenue.
- Register for ROS – Revenue online Service and apply for your ROS Access Number (RAN) .This will take 5 working days to arrive.
- Once you have your RAN you can apply online for a ROS digital certificate.
- Download and save your ROS digital certificate to your device.
- Familiarize yourself with Irish Employment Lawvia Citizens Information Employment Rights and Conditions . In particular the below topics
- Minimum Wage
- Working Hours
- Annual Leave
- Public holidays
- Maternity/ Paternity
- Choose a pay roll software – preferably one which directly interfaces with ROS.
- Set up the company on the payroll software using the CRO number and a ROS digital Certificate.
- Decide on pay roll frequencies and set up the appropriate calendar – weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc. The less frequently you pay the less time and money you will spend on running your pay roll. Also paying in arrears will always cut down on errors eg pay on Tuesday for the week before.
- Encourage your staff to register their job/ tax credits with you on Revenue’s myAccount portal by giving them your Tax Reference number – the TRN appears on all Revenue correspondence.
- Import your employee’s profiles from the Revenue data (RPN) and set up any new employees. For new employees you will need
- Employees PPS number
- Date of birth for minors or seniors or those with a pension.
- Employee contract outlining their hours of work and the rate of pay
Once set up is complete you are then ready to :
- Run your first pay run
- Submit the information to Revenue – with a direct link software such as Parolla this is a click of a button.
- Pay your employees via banking online or Sepa file
- Email your employee payslips
Congratulations you have completed your first pay run , paid your employees and completed your Revenue filing obligations. Hopefully you got to pay yourself too!