Podcast – Employment Rights Ireland   /     Registration of Employers in Ireland-What You Need to Know

Are you starting up a small business?

Or perhaps you already have a business and intend taking on your first employee?

Maybe you are a non Irish company intending to employ someone in Ireland for the 1st time?

By the end of this piece you will be absolutely clear as to your responsibilities for registration as an employer and what forms to use.

When do you need to register as an employer in Ireland?

If you pay wages in excess of €8 per week for a full time employee or €2 per week for a part timer, you must register as an employer for PAYE purposes. You must also notify the Revenue Commissioners within 9 days of your name and address.

Where your business is in the form of a company and there are no employees, you must still register as an employer for the payment of directors’ income. This applies regardless of where the directors live or carry out their duties.

Au pairs/nannies

If you employ an au pair or nanny, you must also register unless

1. You only have one and
2. They are paid less than €40 per week.

How to register as an employer

Fill out the appropriate form and send it in to Revenue. The forms are:

1. Form TR1 for an individual/sole trader/partnership
2. Form TR2 for a company registration
3. Form PREM Reg if you are already registered for income tax or corporation tax
4. Form TR2 (FT) for foreign companies registering for tax in Ireland

These forms can be downloaded from the Revenue website here.

If you have not registered as an employer, and you should have, Revenue can register you compulsorily and let you know.

If you cease to have employees you must notify Revenue within 14 days and complete an end of year return.

Change of ownership of business

If the business changes ownership the new employer should let Revenue know; a new employer registration number may be needed.

Same employer, different employer registration numbers

It can happen that the same employer can require different employment registration numbers. For example:

1. An employer with more than one branch can find it more convenient to operate a registration number for each branch
2. An employer may have different groups of employees, for example, warehouse and retail or office and factory.
3. A company may wish to operate a different registration number to manage directors’ paye and prsi
4. If the employer has an employee in receipt of a pension, he will need a separate paye/prsi registration number to keep a separate record of pay and pension.