Paying employees' tax to Revenue

Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI)

Note

The information on this page refers to current employer obligations. For employer obligations before 1 January 2019, please see the Employer's Guide to PAYE Part 42-04-35.

PRSI is a payment made by employers and their employees. The value of this payment is based on the amount of the employee's pay. PRSI is the main source of funding for social welfare payments.

The total amount paid for an employee in one pay period is called a PRSI contribution. It is made up of the:

• employer's share - that is, the amount of PRSI the employer pays on the employee's pay
• employee's share - that is, the amount of PRSI an employee pays on their own pay.

Each employee has a PRSI contribution class. This class determines the rate the employer must use to calculate the PRSI deduction.

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) provides details of each PRSI class, and the PRSI contribution rates.

Records of PRSI contribution

Each time an employer pays an employee they must, as part of a payroll submission, keep a record of:

• the employee's gross pay for PRSI purposes
• the employee's PRSI contribution for each pay period
• the employer's PRSI contribution for each pay period
• the PRSI class of each employee
• the number of weeks PRSI contributions paid for each employee.

If any employee changes PRSI class during the year, the employer must also include the following in their records:

• the employee's new PRSI class
• the number of weeks PRSI contributions that were paid for the employee at their new class.

The employer should ensure that the employee's PRSI details included on each payroll submission are correct. The employee's entitlement to benefits from the DSP could be adversely impacted by errors included on the payroll submission. Care should be taken to ensure that the correct PRSI class and number of weeks are reported by the employer.

The payroll submission should reflect the number of weeks worked by an employee for the period they are paid. If the employee is paid weekly, then the payroll submission should include one week's contribution. If the employee is paid fortnightly, then the payroll submission should include two weeks contributions. A cumulative number of weeks should not be included.

Errors in the payroll submission should be corrected as soon as the employer becomes aware of them. The procedure for correcting each item in a payroll submission, including errors in PRSI contributions, is detailed in Line Item Correction Rules.

Keeping PRSI contributions separate

The Collector General's Division pays all PRSI deductions to the DSP. For this reason, employers must record their Income Tax and Universal Social Charge (USC) payments separate from their PRSI contributions in their books and accounts.

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