Self employer Family members PRSI

Calibos

Was beginning to look into the implications of my Sole Trader father retiring from the business and myself and up to two brothers who have worked in the business for up to 15 years taking over. Partnerships, Limited company etc.

However I came across the following:

Family members and PRSI

If a self-employed sole trader either employs, or is helped in the running of the business by specified family member(s), this is known as family employment and these family members are not covered by the social insurance system.

From Here

I'm pretty sure we've been paying employee/er PRSI contributions.

Am I misunderstanding the meaning of the quoted text. Have we been paying PSRI for no reason or benefit to us for donkeys years and in the event of unemployment as soon as welfare found out we were sons employed by a sole trader we'd be told we weren't eligible for JSB?? If so can we claim all the PRSI we paid for no benefit to us back. 18, 15 and 12 years worth in our 3 cases.

I expect I'm misunderstanding but thought it best to check. If this is indeed the case however and we do take over the business, there is one person who will be made unemployed and that will be my dads bloody accountant!! :rolleyes:

Calibos

OK, I think I clarified this myself after further googling...very quickly as it turns out.

Here

Turns out its a very specific subset of type and location of employment of family members thats not covered by the Social Insurance system. However that quoted text from the Citizens Information site did not clarify that it was only a small subset of family employment.

Alan Shore

Was beginning to look into the implications of my Sole Trader father retiring from the business and myself and up to two brothers who have worked in the business for up to 15 years taking over. Partnerships, Limited company etc.

Get professional advice. Could save you serious amounts of tax.