Statutory filings every Irish employer must make
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Every Irish employer has a fixed set of statutory filing obligations — real-time payroll submissions, annual returns, and revenue registrations — that apply from the moment you take on your first employee. Missing them carries penalties and interest charges that compound quickly.
Register as an employer before you pay anyone
Before you run your first payroll, you must register as an employer with Revenue. You do this through the Revenue Online Service (ROS). Registration gives you an employer registration number, which you need to file any payroll submissions at all. If you are already registered for other taxes (VAT, corporation tax), employer registration is a separate step — do not assume it carries over automatically.
You must also ensure each employee has registered their job with Revenue through myAccount so that Revenue can issue a Tax Credit Certificate (TCC) to you. The TCC tells you which tax credits and cut-off points apply to that employee. Running payroll without a TCC means operating on emergency tax basis, which is almost always worse for the employee and creates corrections later.
Real-time payroll reporting on or before each payday
Ireland operates a real-time PAYE system. This means you must submit a Payroll Submission Request (PSR) to Revenue on or before the date you actually pay each employee. There is no grace period — the submission must land with Revenue before the money lands with the employee, or at the very latest on the same day.
Each PSR captures:
- Gross pay for the period
- Income tax deducted (standard rate 20%, higher rate 40% above the relevant cut-off)
- USC deducted across the applicable bands (0.5%, 2%, 3%, and 8%)
- Employee PRSI deducted (Class A rate: approximately 4.1%)
- Employer PRSI liability (Class A rate: approximately 11.15%)
Revenue uses this data to update each employee's record in real time, so errors are visible to both the employer and the employee almost immediately. If you make a mistake, you file a corrected submission — there is no separate amendment form.
Monthly and annual payment deadlines
Reporting and paying are separate obligations. Most employers pay their PAYE/USC/PRSI liabilities monthly. The payment deadline is the 23rd of the month following the payroll month if you pay electronically through ROS (the deadline is earlier if you pay by cheque or post, but electronic payment is standard practice).
At year-end, you must file an Employer's Annual Return — the P35 was abolished under the real-time system, but you are still required to ensure all submissions for the tax year are complete and reconciled before the 15 February deadline for the year just ended. Revenue will flag any gaps between your submissions and your payments.
If you have made errors across the year — an underpayment or overpayment — these are resolved through the payroll submission process itself rather than a standalone return.
Other statutory obligations that generate filings
Benefits in kind (BIK): If you provide a company car, private health insurance, or other taxable benefits, these must be included in payroll and reported through the PSR in the relevant pay period. They are not reported separately. BIK increases the employee's notional gross pay and affects their income tax, USC, and PRSI calculations accordingly.
Employment Detail Summaries: From January each year, Revenue makes Employment Detail Summaries available to employees via myAccount. These replace the old P60. You do not issue them directly — they are generated automatically from your real-time submissions — but you are responsible for ensuring all your submissions are accurate so that each employee's summary is correct.
Statutory sick pay (SSP): You must pay statutory sick pay to eligible employees under the Sick Leave Act. While SSP does not create a separate Revenue filing, the amounts paid form part of payroll and must be reported through your regular PSR like any other pay element.
My Future Fund (auto-enrolment): Pension auto-enrolment under the My Future Fund scheme is being introduced from 2026. Once live, employers will have enrolment and contribution obligations for eligible employees. The scheme will introduce a new layer of reporting, though the exact filing mechanics are still being confirmed by the implementing body.
What happens if you miss a filing
Revenue issues a Failure to File surcharge where returns are late. For employer PAYE purposes, late or missing PSRs can also trigger interest on unpaid liabilities — currently charged on a daily basis. Revenue's PAYE Modernisation system means gaps and inconsistencies are visible to compliance teams in near real time, so late filings are noticed faster than they were under the old annual return system.
Keeping your payroll calendar tight — submission on payday, payment by the 23rd of the following month — is the most reliable way to stay clear of penalties.
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