Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005

Employment contributions.

[1993 s10(1)(a)]

13.—(1) Employment contributions shall be paid by employed contributors and their employers in accordance with this section.

[SWA 2000 s8; SWA 2001 s8, 36 & Sch E]

(2) (a) Where in any contribution week a payment of not more than €287 per week (or the equivalent thereof in respect of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis) is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that contributor relating to an employment, a contribution shall not be payable by that employed contributor in respect of those earnings from that employment.

[SWA 1995 s6; SWA 2001 s8, 36 & Sch E]

(b) Subject to paragraph (c) and to regulations under section 14 , where in any contribution week a payment of more than €287 is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, there shall be payable a contribution by the employed contributor at the rate of 4 per cent of the amount of reckonable earnings in excess of €127 in that week in respect of each employment (or the equivalent thereof in the case of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis) to which that payment relates.

[1993 s10(1); 2004 s5(1)]

(c) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor’s reckonable earnings have amounted to the sum of €44,180 and the contributions payable under paragraph (b) have been paid in respect of those reckonable earnings, no further such contribution shall be payable in respect of any reckonable earnings of that employed contributor by the employed contributor in that contribution year.

(d) Subject to subsection (8) and to regulations under section 14 , where in any contribution week a payment is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, there shall be payable a contribution by the employed contributor’s employer—

(i) at the rate of 7.8 per cent of the amount of the reckonable earnings in that week to which that payment relates where those reckonable earnings do not exceed €356 (or the equivalent thereof in the case of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis), and

(ii) at the rate of 10.05 per cent of the amount of the reckonable earnings in that week to which that payment relates where those reckonable earnings exceed €356 (or the equivalent thereof in the case of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis).

[2003 (MP) s17; 2003 s13]

(e) For the purposes of this Chapter—

“payment” includes a notional payment;

“notional payment” has the meaning given to it by section 985A (inserted by section 6 of the Finance Act 2003 ) of the Act of 1997.

[1993 s10(2); 2001 s8(2)(e)]

(3) (a) The Minister may by regulations vary the sums specified in subsection (2)(c) and any variation has effect from the beginning of the contribution year following that in which the regulations are made.

(b) When making regulations under this subsection to vary the sum specified in subsection (2)(c) the Minister shall take into account any changes in the average earnings of workers in the transportable goods industries so recorded by the Central Statistics Office since the date by reference to which the sum specified in subsection (2)(c) was last determined.

[1993 s10(3)]

(4) The employer shall, in relation to any employment contribution, be liable in the first instance to pay both the employer’s contribution comprised therein and also, on behalf of and to the exclusion of the employed contributor, the contribution comprised therein payable by the contributor.

[1993 s10(4)]

(5) An employer shall be entitled, subject to and in accordance with regulations, to recover from an employed contributor the amount of any contribution paid or to be paid by the employer on behalf of that contributor and, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, regulations for the purposes of this subsection may authorise recovery by deductions from the employed contributor’s remuneration, but those regulations shall provide that—

(a) where the employed contributor does not receive any pecuniary remuneration either from the employer or from any other person, the employer shall not be entitled to recover the amount of any such contribution from that contributor, and

(b) where the employed contributor receives any pecuniary remuneration from the employer, the employer shall not be entitled to recover any such contribution otherwise than by deductions.

[1993 s10(5)]

(6) Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, an employer shall not be entitled to deduct from the remuneration of a person employed by the employer, or otherwise to recover from the person, the employer’s contribution in respect of that person.

[1993 s10(6)]

(7) Any sum deducted by an employer from remuneration under regulations for the purposes of this section is deemed to have been entrusted to the employer for the purpose of paying the contribution in respect of which it was deducted.

[1996 s12(1); 2001 (No.2) s5(1)(c)]

(8) In the case of employment specified in paragraph 12 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 , subsection (2)(d) shall be read as if “0.5 per cent” were substituted for “7.8 per cent” and “10.05 per cent”.

[1995 s10]

(9) Regulations may, subject to the conditions and in the circumstances that may be prescribed, exempt an employer who employs an employee under and by virtue of a scheme administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, known as the Employers’ Pay-Related Social Insurance Exemption Scheme, from the liability to pay the contribution specified in section 13 (2)(d) in respect of that employee.

[2004 (MP) s14]

(10) Where, for a year of assessment (within the meaning of the Tax Acts), the Revenue Commissioners and an employer enter into an agreement under a specified provision of the Act of 1997 whereby the employer will account to the Revenue Commissioners, in accordance with that provision, in respect of the income tax due on qualifying emoluments (within the meaning of that provision) and where that agreement is not null and void, then in respect of those qualifying emoluments—

(a) the employer—

(i) as part of that agreement and in so far as the qualifying emoluments are comprised of reckonable earnings of an employed contributor to which the agreement applies, shall pay a contribution at a rate of 14.05 per cent in respect of the aggregate of the amount of those reckonable earnings and the amount of income tax payable under the agreement in respect of them, and

(ii) notwithstanding section 13 (4) or Article 7 of the Regulations of 1996, shall not be entitled to recover from an employed contributor any part of a contribution paid in accordance with subparagraph (i),

and

(b) a contribution paid in accordance with paragraph (a)(i) shall not be regarded as an employment contribution for the purposes of any benefit specified in section 39 (1).

[2004 (MP) s14]

(11) In subsection (10) “specified provision” means any provision that may be prescribed for the purposes of that subsection.