How to rectify PRSI contribution error

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dub_nerd

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I started a job in January 2023 but, due to delays getting me set up on payroll, didn't get my first pay until the end of March. Tax and PRSI deductions were all for the correct amounts. However, when I got a tax and PRSI summary at the end of the year, I had only racked up 43 PRSI contributions even though I worked 52 weeks. It seems that the first paycheck was treated like a large one for the last week in March instead of for all the weeks since January. The payroll company acknowledged they had made an error in submitting the number of PRSI contributions, but could only advise me to contact Dept. Social Protection myself.

My question is how do I do that? There's a bewildering array of DSP sections. Scope section looked most like the right function but I emailed them almost 3 months ago and got no reply.
 
It is up to your employer to send in a form to correct your prsi status for those missing weeks. They are responsible for informing revenue of the error, paying the correct prsi contribution and rectifying the error. Just because the payroll company says they cannot do anything does not remove the onus from your employer from fixing this error.

There is a form they can submit (just googled it there but cannot see it).

So I am assuming you have a local HR. Raise it with them, point out it is the employer responsibility to ensure the employee is on the correct prsi class for each week of employment. They need to correct the error with revenue. Keep escalating and complaining if you do not get a timely response or they push the issue back to you.

Just because they outsourced payroll does not remove the responsibility from them as the employer. Plus it calls into question the expertise of the payroll company who
(1) couldn’t pay you on time for the first 3 months of your employment and
(2) did not make their submissions to revenue correctly.

It is great that you have spotted this so quickly but the error is not yours to correct.
 
You need to follow this up proactively with the Dept of Social Protection. That means getting on the phone until you find whoever it is you need to speak with.

Just emailing them is likely to be useless and as it has nothing to do with Scope Section, it's unsurprising that they didn't bother answering your email.

In fairness to the employer, the new PAYE modernisation system (an Orwellianism if there ever was one) is useless at accommodating retrospective corrections of payroll errors and Revenue have basically bullied many employers into thinking that rectifications aren't even possible to complete.
 
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As far as Revenue is concerned there is no accommodation of errors. They expect (require) employers to correct every entry individually. Assuming OP never got a cent from their Employer until end of March. The Employer could just login to ROS and increase the number of Insurable Weeks. It would only take a couple of minutes.
 
Thanks for replies. To explain the setup, no we have no HR. We are a three-person company including the boss. There is an external payroll company who I expect are looking after everything -- I doubt the boss would have a clue how to log into ROS. The payroll guy has told me that there is absolutely nothing that can be done via Revenue, it has to be DSP, and I have to do it. I don't think he's being obstructive for the sake of it, that's his genuine understanding.

T McGibney said:
You need to follow this up proactively with the Dept of Social Protection. That means getting on the phone until you find whoever it is you need to speak with.

Just emailing them is likely to be useless and as it has nothing to do with Scope Section, it's unsurprising that they didn't bother answering your email.

In fairness to the employer, the new PAYE modernisation system (an Orwellianism if there ever was one) is useless at accommodating retrospective corrections of payroll errors and Revenue have basically bullied many employers into thinking that rectifications aren't even possible to complete.
Click to expand...

Where do I start, though? I can't find a single relevant number on the DSP phone number list. Also, is my payroll guy incorrect to say that this is nothing to do with Revenue and can't be rectified with them? It's all a bit frustrating -- I have no problem furnishing whatever evidence is necessary, but so far I'm not even sure I've identified the right government department, let alone the right section within it. How can it be this hard? (The irony is that I wrote some of DSP's records system many, many moons ago).
 
dub_nerd said:
.The payroll guy has told me that there is absolutely nothing that can be done via Revenue,
Click to expand...
He's wrong.

The payroll can be amended. Which package does your company use? Unless there's something wrong with it, it will contain a function to enable a correction to be made for 2023.

The problem is that Revenue told everyone in 2019 that retrospective corrections to payroll submissions were not going to be possible under PAYE modernisation.

That was of course nonsense as mistakes invariably happen and workers have a basic right not to suffer if and when mistakes happens - as has happened you here.

You must now demand the the error be corrected.

Ask your boss to have the company's accountants intervene. They should soon sort it.
 
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