Hiring an employee

Hiring someone who has worked before

You may hire someone who has worked in Ireland before. If so, you must take account of a number of circumstances.

If your employee has worked before in the year and has a Form P45

If your employee has worked previously in the tax year, they will have a current-year Form P45. You may use the tax credits and tax and Universal Social Charge (USC) cut-off points from their P45 to tax them on a temporary basis.

Your employee needs to use the Jobs and pensions service to register their job with Revenue. You cannot tax them on a cumulative basis until you receive a Tax Credit Certificate (P2C).

You must tax an employee on an emergency basis if you:

• have not received from the employee either a P2C for the current year or a Form P45 for the current year or the previous year
• have received a Form P45 from the current year or previous year showing that the emergency basis has been applied
• have received a Form P45 with no Personal Public Service Number (PPSN).

A Form P45 with no PPSN may show that the emergency basis was not applied in the previous employment. If so you may use the temporary basis once the employee provides you with their PPSN.

If your employee has worked before in the year and does not have a Form P45

Your employee may be waiting to receive a Form P45 from a previous employer. They should contact their Revenue Office to register the employment and move their tax credits to the new employment on a week 1, month 1 basis. Otherwise you must tax them on an emergency basis.

Your employee may have worked abroad this year before commencing work with you. If so, they need to contact Revenue.

If your employee has not worked anywhere else this year

If your employee is starting work for the first time this year, they will not have a current-year Form P45. Your employee should register their job through the Jobs and pensions service. They may have a Form P45 from the previous year that shows their PPSN and that emergency basis was not applied. In this case you can apply the temporary basis until you receive a P2C.

You should tax them on an emergency basis where you have received a Form P45 that either:

• is from the current year or previous year showing that the emergency basis was applied
• has no PPSN.

A previous-year Form P45 with no PPSN may show that the emergency basis was not applied. If so you may use the temporary basis once the employee provides you with their PPSN.

Next: Tax Credit Certificates (P2C)