Hello,
As well as posting my query here, I (the OP) also send it to the money advice section of a Sunday broadsheet. They printed their answer today which I have reproduced below. (To summarise my complaint: I am unemployed but am being treated by the revenue as self-employed and must therefore cough up 4% (as PRSI) of any bank deposit interest I earn.)
What the paper said:
"You are being treated as self-employed by default because you are not in employment, This exposes you to an anomaly in the tax system, whereby the self-employed must pay PRSI on deposit interest, dividends and other unearned income but not those in employment.
I doubt that you have grounds for appeal because the government's solution for addressing this anomaly is to impose PRSI on all unearned income,including that of employees, from 2014.
The taxation of deposit interest is unfair for those on lower incomes. Dirt is deducted by the banks at a flat rate of 33% - great for those in the top tax bracket but not for those who pay at 20% or are exempt from income tax because their earnings are too low."
[End of what the paper said.]
The above response is quite a disappointment to me, I find the first sentence extroardinary and demanding of a proper explanation. I find the second paragraph illogical - can I not claim a tax rebate for PRSI wrongfully paid up till now and can I not avoid paying the new minimum self-employed PRSI of E500 from 2013 onwards? Then the third paragraph wanders off onto an irrelevant (though related) issue.
I will certainly be appealing my employment status to the revenue, despite the paper's pessimism in this regard, and will let you know what happens.
Bri Cualann