Can Employer backdate PAYE

Hi

Left a PAYE job in May 2008.

Started casually in sales (nothing in writing) for one individual who owns a company.

He paid me cash gross and we discussed going on PAYE after 2 months but nothings happened.( I did not want to be self employed)

I have asked him to start me on PAYE from Jan 05 2009.

1) Can he backdate the payments to put in the PAYE tax for 2008
2) Does he have to declare what he paid me to revenue if he considers me self employed
3) If work I did was considered self employed could I fill out a form 12A and declare my start day as say Jan 5 2009

Hope someone out there as the answers!

Thanks

1. If you have only one source of employment income, then Revenue will almost certainly deem you to be an employee, not self-employed. Whether your "boss" considers you self-employed or not is irrelevant, he's simply trying to avoid paying employer's PRSI etc.
2. Even if you were really self-employed you'd still have to declare and pay tax on all your income. You don't get to "decide on" a start day and avoid paying tax for the period before that date. You declare ALL the income that you earned in a calendar year and get taxed on that.

See "Code of Practice for Determining Employment or self-Employment Status of Individuals":
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/code-of-practice-on-employment-status.pdf

You and your employer broke the rules. The onus is mainly on the employer to operate PAYE correctly rather than on the employee.

The Revenue are generally willing to co-operate with somebody who is trying to fix things up provided that there is a willingness to pay the tax due -- and is seems clear that you want that to be done. I suggest that your employer phone the tax office, explain the "misunderstanding", and ask for assistance in regularising the situation. It might be tidier if your employer has not yet submitted a P35 (end of year PAYE summary for the business).