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Irish Tax & Salary Guides

Plain-English guides to every deduction on your Irish payslip. Written for the 2026 tax year using the latest Revenue rates and thresholds.

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PAYE Tax in Ireland

How PAYE works, the 2026 rates and bands, standard rate cut-off points, and how tax credits reduce your bill.

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USC (Universal Social Charge)

USC rates, thresholds, exemptions, and how this charge differs from income tax for Irish workers.

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PRSI in Ireland

PRSI classes, contribution rates, the benefits you earn, and how the tapered credit works for low earners.

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Tax Credits in Ireland 2026

A complete guide to Personal, Employee, Single Parent, Home Carer, Rent, and other tax credits available.

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Emergency Tax in Ireland

Why emergency tax happens, how much extra you pay, and step-by-step instructions to claim a refund.

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Married Couples Tax

Single vs joint assessment, transferring tax bands, and how to optimise your tax as a married couple.

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Pension Contributions & Tax Relief

How pension contributions reduce your tax, age-related limits, and the difference between 20% and 40% relief.

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Starting Your First Job in Ireland

Tax registration with Revenue, getting your PPS number, understanding your first payslip, and avoiding emergency tax.

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These guides are for someone looking at an Irish payslip and trying to work out why it says what it says. Each covers one part of the system, names the Revenue publication it relies on, and carries its review date at the top and bottom so that a figure can be checked against the year it belongs to.

Read them in the order the question arises. The PAYE guide comes first, because credits and the standard rate cut-off point determine everything else. If you have just started a job, the emergency tax guide is the more urgent one: it explains why the first payslip is smaller than expected and exactly what to do about it, usually within a single pay cycle.

The USC and PRSI guides matter because neither charge behaves like income tax. Both are calculated on gross pay, neither is reduced by tax credits, and PRSI has no upper ceiling at all, which is why the combined marginal rate stays at fifty-two percent however high the salary goes. Understanding that explains most of the gap between a headline salary and what arrives in the account.

The remaining guides deal with situations rather than mechanics: pension relief and its age-related limits, the choice of assessment method for married couples, and the credits that have to be claimed rather than granted. That last point is where most money is left unclaimed, and claims can be backdated four years.

Frequently asked questions

Which of these guides should I read first?
Start with the PAYE guide, which explains how credits and the cut-off point interact, because every other page assumes that. If you have just started a job, the emergency tax guide comes next and is usually the more urgent of the two. The USC and PRSI guides are worth reading once, since both are charged on gross pay and neither can be reduced by the usual planning.
Do these guides apply to self-employed income?
Only partly. The income tax bands and credits are the same, but a self-employed person pays Class S PRSI rather than Class A, files a Form 11 rather than relying on payroll, and cannot claim the Employee PAYE Tax Credit on that income. Anyone with non-PAYE income above €5,000 falls into self-assessment, which changes the filing obligation even where the tax is identical.
How current are the figures in these guides?
Each page carries its review date at the top and in the footer, and the sources are listed at the end. Credits, bands and USC thresholds are set in the Budget each October and take effect from the following January, so a page reviewed after that date reflects the current year. Where a figure has changed mid-year, the guide says so explicitly.
Can I claim tax back for previous years?
Yes, for the four most recent tax years. This is the single most valuable thing most people can do with an hour of their time: unclaimed medical expenses, the Rent Tax Credit, tuition fees and incorrectly allocated credits are all recoverable. Claims are made through Revenue myAccount, and a refund for several years at once is common on a first review.
Do these guides replace advice from an accountant?
For a straightforward PAYE position, they cover what is needed. Once share options, rental income, foreign income or a business are involved, the interaction between reliefs becomes specific enough that professional advice pays for itself. Revenue's own guidance is free and authoritative, and it is worth reading before paying anyone to summarise it.
Why do the guides quote a fifty-two percent marginal rate?
Because it is the combined effect of three separate charges on the same euro: forty percent income tax, eight percent USC in the top band, and four percent PRSI. Each is set independently, and none has an upper ceiling, which is why the figure holds at every income above the thresholds. It is the number that matters when weighing a raise, a bonus or a pension contribution.