Emergency Tax

What is Emergency Tax?

There are emergency tax rates for Income Tax and Universal Social Charge which get applied to employees who are lacking certain information.

Emergency taxes allow an employee’s income to be processed and submitted to Revenue in the absence of the employee having a valid PPS number or Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN). However, the taxes applied may be higher than the employee is expecting. Please see ‘Why are my taxes so high?‘

You should refer to the Revenue guidance documents here.

PRSI operates on a different set of calculations and is not affected by Emergency Tax.

What tax rates are applied?

Employees who do not have a PPS number will immediately go onto the highest level of personal taxes.

Employees who do have a PPSN, but may not be registered with Revenue, will find that their income tax rates get progressively higher over time.

You can find the current Emergency Tax rates here.

How to get off Emergency Tax?

The first step is for the employee to get a PPS number. They can apply for a PPS number at the Department of Social Protection.

The next step is for the employee to register with myAccount on the Revenue website here.

The employee is the only person that can complete the above steps, you cannot do it for them as a payroll administrator.

The final step is for the employee or the employer to register their employment with Revenue. The employee can do so under myAccount in the Jobs and Pensions section.

The employer can register the employee over Parolla by requesting a new RPN under Revenue > Revenue payroll notifications.

An employee who has a valid Revenue Payroll Notification, and is on a Cumulative Tax Basis, will be refunded excess tax deducted under the Emergency Tax rates via payroll.

You should review the Revenue Payroll Notifications to see the tax details.