Doing my own tax in new job

The Witches Cat

Hi.
I have been offered a new job and everything seems good about it. The only thing is I have to do my own taxes or I can pay a company €15 a week and they will look after it.
Is this unusual or is this something I should be concerned about.
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

wench

Are you being hired as a self-employed contractor, or a regular employee?

lassykk

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi.
I have been offered a new job and everything seems good about it. The only thing is I have to do my own taxes or I can pay a company €15 a week and they will look after it.
Is this unusual or is this something I should be concerned about.
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

If you are doing your own tax it sounds like you will be a contractor and not an employee. Do you know how your annual leave is being dealt with. A lot of contractors have to take annual leave at their own expense (unpaid) and the same for sick days.

I'd have a good look through your contract before committing.

And €780 to do what I imagine will be a very simple income tax return is daylight robbery. I can guarantee you would get that done cheaper. Its about an hours work for the whole year if done annually.

Maybe I'm missing something though.

relax carry on

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi.
I have been offered a new job and everything seems good about it. The only thing is I have to do my own taxes or I can pay a company €15 a week and they will look after it.
Is this unusual or is this something I should be concerned about.
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

Are you self employed? Is it a contract of service or a contract for service? Individuals and companies do not get to arbitrarily decide who is an employee and who is self employed.


https://www.revenue.ie/en/employing-people/becoming-an-employer-and-ongoing-obligations/guide-to-pay-as-you-earn-paye/determining-the-employment-status-of-an-individual.aspx

The Witches Cat

wench wrote: »

Are you being hired as a self-employed contractor, or a regular employee?

Hi. Yeah I delved a bit deeper and its as a self employed contractor. Are there any downsides to this type of work?
Thanks

shanec1928

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi. Yeah I delved a bit deeper and its as a self employed contractor. Are there any downsides to this type of work?
Thanks

No paid annual leave or sick days or other benefits the company may offer full time staff. So factor that in when negotiating your daily rate.

the_syco

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi. Yeah I delved a bit deeper and its as a self employed contractor. Are there any downsides to this type of work?
Thanks

Generally you're paid for the days you work. ie; no paid sick days, no holiday pay. So it's not (weeks pay) * (52 weeks of the year) that your pay is, but rather (weeks pay) * (48 weeks of the year), to take into account the 2 weeks holiday, 9 bank holidays that you may not be working on, and one days sickness.

Also, you have to pay Class S PRSI to be eligible for Social Welfare should you lose your job.

Would advise you seek out an accountant to do your tax that is not associated with the company. A good accountant will pay for themselves.

lassykk wrote: »

And €780 to do what I imagine will be a very simple income tax return is daylight robbery. I can guarantee you would get that done cheaper. Its about an hours work for the whole year if done annually.

I'm wondering if the €780 also includes an umbrella company that would do their tax?

=-=

OP; talk to someone you respect that is self employed before taking the leap, as you don't seem to know the ins and outs of it.

lassykk

I'm wondering if the €780 also includes an umbrella company that would do their tax?

Nice little earner for the company. No employer prsi to pay and charge the contractors for looking after the tax for them.

Could be wrong on this of course but I'm skeptical

Calahonda52

shanec1928 wrote: »

No paid annual leave or sick days or other benefits the company may offer full time staff. So factor that in when negotiating your daily rate.

No pension either.
The 15 a week is robbery for this service.

You could buy a full payroll package for about 150 lids pa that will do all the math and upload to ROS etc

the rest of your tax is simple, especially is a sole trader.

wmpdd3

Calahonda52 wrote: »

No pension either.
The 15 a week is robbery for this service.

You could buy a full payroll package for about 150 lids pa that will do all the math and upload to ROS etc

the rest of your tax is simple, especially is a sole trader.[/quote

Could you reccommend one? I'm a sole trader, no employees, currently using excel.

FishOnABike

It might also be worthwhile getting some advice on the terms of the contract from someone who knows something about emoyment law and tax law.

There can be a very fine line between what constitutes a contractor and what constitutes an employee from an emoyment law and tax law point of view. Some companies can go very close to or over that line.

lassykk

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Calahonda52 wrote: »

No pension either.
The 15 a week is robbery for this service.

You could buy a full payroll package for about 150 lids pa that will do all the math and upload to ROS etc

the rest of your tax is simple, especially is a sole trader.[/quote

Could you reccommend one? I'm a sole trader, no employees, currently using excel.

Hi, I think that poster meant a payroll package for looking after PAYE calculations.

To my knowledge there isn't a cheap solution that will do the calculation and upload of your Form 11 (Income Tax return) to ROS but I'm open to correction.

I just use excel myself due to limited number of transactions.

Obviously SAGE, etc are available if you are a bigger entity but I'm not familiar with any of them spitting out an income tax return for you.

Calahonda52

Soory OP, the payroll package just does that and uploads the tax due on payroll to ROS, which is a requirement of all payroll packages now.
It does not automate the income tax side, my bad:(

Stratvs

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi.
I have been offered a new job and everything seems good about it. The only thing is I have to do my own taxes or I can pay a company €15 a week and they will look after it.
Is this unusual or is this something I should be concerned about.
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

The first thing is determining whether you are in fact an employee or self-employed.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/employing-people/becoming-an-employer-and-ongoing-obligations/guide-to-pay-as-you-earn-paye/determining-the-employment-status-of-an-individual.aspx

This is something which the employer/main contractor would want to be very sure about or they might find Revenue and DEASP looking into their affairs.

You cannot just decide to make someone a self-employed contractor because it saves you on holidays / employer PRSI etc. The circumstances must fit the definition of a contract for services. Otherwise the person is an employee.

Marcusm

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Soory OP, the payroll package just does that and uploads the tax due on payroll to ROS, which is a requirement of all payroll packages now.
It does not automate the income tax side, my bad:(

It’s also not directly comparable to an umbrella company as the payroll package will not raise invoices, perform VAT calculations and returns, prepare annual accounts and file them.

thesimpsons

This is something I'm coming across more and more regularly in last year or so. Most employees are accepting it either cos they don't know the legalities of employee vs contractor and/or are anxious to secure the new job.

Revenue takes a very dim light of companies trying to avoid their responsibilities towards employees, and there are very clear methods of ascertaining whether a person is an employee or contractor. An audit by Revenue on this is uncomfortable place to be (I was witness to one).

ebbsy

lassykk wrote: »

If you are doing your own tax it sounds like you will be a contractor and not an employee. Do you know how your annual leave is being dealt with. A lot of contractors have to take annual leave at their own expense (unpaid) and the same for sick days.

I'd have a good look through your contract before committing.

And €780 to do what I imagine will be a very simple income tax return is daylight robbery. I can guarantee you would get that done cheaper. Its about an hours work for the whole year if done annually.

Maybe I'm missing something though.

No you are not missing anything.

Half that at best plus Vat.

ebbsy

thesimpsons wrote: »

This is something I'm coming across more and more regularly in last year or so. Most employees are accepting it either cos they don't know the legalities of employee vs contractor and/or are anxious to secure the new job.

Revenue takes a very dim light of companies trying to avoid their responsibilities towards employees, and there are very clear methods of ascertaining whether a person is an employee or contractor. An audit by Revenue on this is uncomfortable place to be (I was witness to one).

Meat factories in Kildare anyone ?

wandererz

The Witches Cat wrote: »

Hi.
I have been offered a new job and everything seems good about it. The only thing is I have to do my own taxes or I can pay a company €15 a week and they will look after it.
Is this unusual or is this something I should be concerned about.
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

Look at doing it as an employee or director under an umbrella company. The fees are deductable.
And to be honest, it's peace of mind.

You input hours worked or days etc and rate into the online system, they process it, get payment from the company you contract to, issue you a payslip and deposit the money into your account.

thesimpsons

ebbsy wrote: »

Meat factories in Kildare anyone ?

no not the meat factories but a variety of other companies.

Apart from loosing PRSI and hol/sick pay rights as an employee, the employee can also loose out on length of service entitlements which might be relevant in terms of a notice period from the company, redundancy situation, etc.

lassykk

wandererz wrote: »

Look at doing it as an employee or director under an umbrella company. The fees are deductable.
And to be honest, it's peace of mind.

You input hours worked or days etc and rate into the online system, they process it, get payment from the company you contract to, issue you a payslip and deposit the money into your account.

Out of curiosity what's the advantage of doing it this way over a sole trader route/form 11?

I know from a cash management perspective you would be paying PAYE monthly rather than saving a lump for your annual income tax but is there other benefits?

lassykk

ebbsy wrote: »

Meat factories in Kildare anyone ?

Last time I had a connection with these, albeit many years ago everyone was paid as an employee. Times could have changed though