Help please! Advice(legal-ish) for first time childminder

chrisguy116

Hi there , I'm not entirely sure this is posted in the right place , if not even point me in the right direction. I'm looking for some advice on an issue my partner has. She's a first time childminder working in the child's home 5-days a week ( for the past 6 months or so ) .Her employer has said she will not pay prsi and only pay my partner in cash. After leaving another job in a crèche to pursue this job she feels worried that it might effect her in the long run ( not paying tax, PRSI etc ).
Is there anything she can do to try mitigate this problem?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you

SCOOP 64

Can should not pay it her self as selfemployed if shes worried about, or just take the cash as many other childminders do, and no one the wiser, doubt the revenue would find out.

godtabh

She is working as a sole trader. She is liable for tax on the money she declares.

In reality she wont do this and it will be a cash in hand type job

tatli_lokma

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Can should not pay it her self as selfemployed if shes worried about, or just take the cash as many other childminders do, and no one the wiser, doubt the revenue would find out.

not a wise move - not paying tax is one thing, but by not paying PRSI OP's girlfriend might find herself out in the cold if she ever needs to claim benefits such as unemployment benefit or illness benefit. A childminder in the home is not going to be earning the kind of money that will incurr a huge PAYE or PRSI bill, so it is foolish not to pay them.

godtabh wrote: »

She is working as a sole trader. She is liable for tax on the money she declares.

In reality she wont do this and it will be a cash in hand type job

incorrect. She is working as a domestic worker and as such is protected by the same rights as other employees. The employer must pay PRSI and PAYE in the same way as any other employer. There are some concessions regarding the PAYE and the employer might decide not to deduct PAYE and USC (mainly because for a home worker it might be difficult for the employer to correctly administer that). In which case the employee must make a monthly, quarterly or yearly tax return. It is a pain, as the employee needs to make sure that they have squirrelled enough money each period to cover any tax. But again, as I mentioned for most workers of this nature the salary won't result in a large tax liability.

As for the employer deducting PRSI - that is more straight forward, even if you are not numerically minded. Depending on the salary it is either 4.25% or 10.75% employer's contribution. So take the salary, divide by 100, muliply by either 4.25 or 10.75 and that is what the employer owes in PRSI on behalf of the employee. If the employee earns less than €352 they pay no PRSI, if they earn over €352 they pay 4% (use same method as above to calculate the amount due). The employer is then responsible for deducting BOTH employER PRSI and employEE (if any) PRSI and forwarding it to the Department of Social Protection.

All the information on this is here:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/types_of_employment/full_time_employment/domestic_workers_in_ireland.html