Nearly 300,000 workers have had to pay up to €2,500 each in back taxes since January because they received PUP and other payments during the pandemic.
The accountants are contacted by “terrified” workers who did not know they were subject to this tax but have been notified by the Treasury in the last two weeks.
If you don’t make a plan to pay back tax, it could start to be deducted from your paycheck at the beginning of the new year.
It was learned that almost 280,000 people have not yet contacted the Tax Agency to arrange a tax payment plan.
If they don’t, they will face an automatic tax credit reduction.
But many workers don’t know how to use the Revenue Online Service (ROS) system and are reaching out to accountants for help.
One accountant, who wanted to remain anonymous to protect clients from him, said the tax recovery is totally unfair as it affects the very workers who kept the country alive during the pandemic.
According to Mirror, she said: “This is effectively a pay cut for all private workers who worked through the pandemic at risk to themselves and their families. This scheme was implemented without informing the employees of the possible consequences. Bearing in mind that employers in the private sector received substantial hand-outs from the State and their PRSI was reduced from 11.05% to 0.5% for two years, this is immoral. The public sector has not been affected at all by this. But the supermarket workers who sold them their lunches while they were all working from home are affected. Why is that fair?”
Those who received the PUP or TWSS schemes during the lockdown had the option of paying their income tax over four years, but had to file a tax return to settle the charge.
The receipts confirmed that the number of those left to contact them is close to 300,000 in relation to the PUP payments and the temporary wage subsidy scheme.
Another accountant added: “It’s very unusual to see PAYE workers contacting accountants but they are, it’s usually the self-employed at this time of year. Don’t blame Revenue, it’s the Government’s fault for coming up with these badly thought-out schemes which penalise the very workers who kept the country going during Covid. My advice to PAYE workers who are worried about their tax liabilities is to go to the Citizens Advice people and ask for help,” reports Mirror.
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