Pay for USC higher than total pay on my P60?

FrStone

I'm just wondering why my total pay for USC purposes would be LOWER than my total pay on my P60.

In the case of most people it would surely be the other way around as there are no deductions for pension contributions for the USC.

nompere

But that's why it's higher. If your actual gross salary is €40,000, and you pay €4,000 in pension, then your gross for PAYE purposes is €36,000, but your gross for USC remains €40,000.

FrStone

Sorry, I have gotten confused. My pay for USC is lower than the pay for PAYE. Which I can't get my head around.


I will go ahead and edit the title, so not to cause anymore confusion.

FrStone

Could a moderator please change the word higher to lower in the title please.

nompere

I don't believe that there are any circumstances in which gross for USC may be less than gross for PAYE.

I tried putting figures into ROS where the gross for USC was less than the gross for PAY and I wasn't allowed to proceed. In bright red letters I was told I had made a mistake, and that the gross for USC "...must be greater than or equal to: Irish employments, offices and non-Proprietary Directorships subject to PAYE ..."

I tried putting similar figures into proprietary tax software, and got a similar message.

If you have such a P60 I reckon that someone in your payroll department has made a mistake.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Only way for this to happen is bad payroll software and a mistake.

You won't be able to enter on Ros where pay for usc is lower than gross pay.

SRASE

I have seen this arise this year. It was due to a refund of an overpayment of pension contributions made in 2012. The pension contributions were not allowable as a deduction for USC in 2012 so the refund of the contributions in 2013 is not subject to USC. They were an allowable tax deduction so the refunds are subject to tax in 2013

It is unusual and ROS will not allow the return to be submitted. Best option in this case is to contact the local district about the issue and they will let you know how to submit the ROS file. In my case they said to submit the Form 11 and to include details in the expression of doubt section.

FrStone

SRASE wrote: »

I have seen this arise this year. It was due to a refund of an overpayment of pension contributions made in 2012. The pension contributions were not allowable as a deduction for USC in 2012 so the refund of the contributions in 2013 is not subject to USC. They were an allowable tax deduction so the refunds are subject to tax in 2013

It is unusual and ROS will not allow the return to be submitted. Best option in this case is to contact the local district about the issue and they will let you know how to submit the ROS file. In my case they said to submit the Form 11 and to include details in the expression of doubt section.

I don't pay a pension for this particular employment. I wonder has it something to do with sick pay.

My father had the same problem last year, he filed a paper return to avoid the error on rose. He is paid by the state so I doubt it is an error.

Anyway if it is an error, the onus is not on me to fix it.

barneystinson

FrStone wrote: »

Anyway if it is an error, the onus is not on me to fix it.

It absolutely is your responsibility, and in your own best interest to ensure you've paid the correct amount of tax - if you end up having underpaid tax / USC it's you who'll have to pay the shortfall.

SRASE

Could be due to illness benefit. This is taxable but is not liable to usc

FrStone

barneystinson wrote: »

It absolutely is your responsibility, and in your own best interest to ensure you've paid the correct amount of tax - if you end up having underpaid tax / USC it's you who'll have to pay the shortfall.

No I'm sure you'll find that I'm entitled to rely on the figures provided by my p60. The onus to ensure the figures are correct fall on my employer.

barneystinson

FrStone wrote: »

No I'm sure you'll find that I'm entitled to rely on the figures provided by my p60. The onus to ensure the figures are correct fall on my employer.

Not sure what makes you believe that - in any case I'm not talking about the P60 figures being correct or not.

Ultimately all that matters is how much your taxable pay was and the amount of tax deducted, and how much your USC-able pay was and how much USC was deducted. If the employer hasn't deducted enough through an error on their part, and your take home pay was too high as a result, then when you file a return or claim medical expenses etc and a balancing statement issues, it'll fall to you to deal with the deficit.