Continued to be paid salary after I left my job.

D

Duals21

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Hi all,

Ill keep this short. I have left a company 2 months ago and they have still paid the full salary (60% of it gone with emergency tax). I thought the first month was owed holiday hours and commision. But i got another payment just last week. I reported this with the company and they have told me that i have to pay the gross amount over the two months by the end of this week. Is there a way around this?
 
Unless there is more to this and some type of error on your part I do not see how they can insist the full sum be paid by the end of the week. You alerted them of the error, you acknowledge the money has to be paid back maybe a reasonable payment plan? I could see that it was not totally unreasonable to think the first payment was money owed.

Personally I would want to get it resolved and not left hanging so it’s either you can afford to repay in a lump sum or you agree a payment option. You did not make the error and have made representation to resolve it depending on the amounts involved a couple of months should get it sorted I would have thought.
 
I have been told by an accountant in the family that by law i have to pay them back but on my terms. They made the mistake and now the ball is in my court. Would this be a fair statement
 
Duals21 said:
Would this be a fair statement
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It certainly seems like a fair approach on your part. If the error was on their part then they have some cheek trying to unilaterally dictate some short term ultimatum to you. Tell them how and when you intend to deal with paying it back and tell them to like it or lump it.
 
Hello,

As a starting point, I agree with Fortune, you should only be liable for the net amount, that you received.

I would seperately contact Revenue and find out how you go about having any tax credits that there applied to these two "salary" payments, reversed.

What have you done with the two payments ? Whatever about the first one, you knew you weren't supposed to have received the second one, so I assume you still have it, and could return that, quite quickly, yes ?

You could then offer to return the first month's payment over an appropriate period, based on your ability to repay (while I wouldn't put myself under particular pressure with these repayments, I also wouldn't "extract the Michael").

You've done the right thing by contacting them, and acknowledging that its not your money to keep. Sadly, they've responded badly, but don't let that stop you from being an honest and decent person.

Also, is there any chance that you may need a reference from this party, in the future?
 
I hope you have your P45 showing the correct payments made and correct taxes as of your finishing date.

Other posters are correct, you only owe the extra net amount transferred to you or through your bank account due to their errors. Let them chase Revenue for refunds of tax, PRSI, etc deducted, as you didn't receive those amounts.

I hope the newish arrangements about remitting deductions to Revenue in real-time don't complicate matters for you.

I'd aim to get the over-payments of net pay cleared by the end of this tax year,12/13 weeks, providing they issue your P45 and correct your deductions with Revenue. Delays on their part could very well lead to delays on your part, I mean there's none of us perfect. ;)
 
P45’s are not issued any more. According to revenue you can let them know your employment is ceased if your former employer did not.

If I were you I would pay back your current net pay from them immediately and pay back the first pay amount over the next 2/3 months. As you thought the first extra payment might be holiday pay or commission ask them for a full reconciliation of your final pay including if they calculated both of those.
 
They’ve a cheek for sure. The deadline and the demand to be paid gross are particularly ridiculous.

You’ve been paid net and because of it some of your credits and standard rate cut off point have been used. You don’t want to end up out of pocket, even temporarily, for someone else’s mistake.

I’d tell them that of course you’ll be repaying the net amount, that you’ll repay half of it as soon as possible, and that you’ll retain the other half until you’ve ensured that your tax position hasn’t been affected, which shouldn’t take long. Make it clear that they need to realise that you shouldn’t be overly inconvenienced or impacted financially (even temporarily) because of someone else’s mistake.

I’d also echo other posters’ idea to look for a reconciliation as these guys could be making mistakes all over the place.
 
Unless your job is in accounts or finance I wouldn’t worry too much about a reference. As was said most places just say worked X to Y. They aren’t going to write to someone and say we over paid him twice and he was slow to refund us…

They’ll want it sorted asap, I’d say they were hoping to get it wrapped up by quarter end, hence the end of the week rush. If it was out snd back in before the end of the quarter no one might see it. Well that’s not your fault. But I’d aim for sorting it by the year end to keep things square with revenue.
 
Duals21 said:
I reported this with the company and they have told me that i have to pay the gross amount over the two months by the end of this week.
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That sounds like the person who made the mistake trying to cover it up.

go over their head to their boss or the Chief Executive or HR and tell them to fix the problem. Issue the correct Revenue information and then you will pay it back.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
So how does an employee generally check that the right deductions were made and reported to Revenue?
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When you leave your job

This page explains what to do when you leave your job
www.revenue.ie www.revenue.ie

When you leave your job​

When you leave a job, your employer will let Revenue know that you have finished. They will do this by including a date of leaving on your final payroll submission. You will no longer receive a P45 from your employer.

You can now view your pay and Income Tax deductions reported by your employer through the ‘Manage your tax’ link in myAccount.
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2024-10-01 08 32 27.png
 
I agree with the other posters that you should only pay them back the net amount and not in a hurry.

Out of politeness, I would seek to make the final payment by mid December. Someone has made a mistake, and it will make their life a lot easier if this can be rectified by year end
 
You can now view your pay and Income Tax deductions reported by your employer through the ‘Manage your tax’ link in myAccount.
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You should not repay any money until this is corrected.

You should write to them now and tell them that when it appears to be fixed in myAccount, you will then return the money.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
You should not repay any money until this is corrected.

You should write to them now and tell them that when it appears to be fixed in myAccount, you will then return the money.
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That would require the employer to break the law. Revenue work on the principle of Follow The Money. When the OP repays money, the employer is supposed to enter negative values for the date(s) money was received back.
 
The solution here is simple.
  • The OP repays the net sums as soon as they can.
  • As they receive each repayment instalment, and until the entire overpayment is cleared the ex-employer records this under the OP's PPSN on each successive payroll run.
  • The cumulative Revenue deduction record will correct itself each time.
  • The end.
Any attempt by the OP in the meantime to force their ex-employer to essentially fiddle their payroll is likely only to cause unproductive aggro and confusion.
 
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Prior to doing all of this, and since you thought the initial month was for holidays not used etc, I would suggest writing to them and asking for a final statement from them of what they did actually genuinely owed you. That then is not under dispute. For the rest, only pay back the net amount. Lastly, I'd insist on a final letter from them confirming that all relevant actions with Revenue have been completed.
 
And get payslips - so many are now electronic so be sure to get printed copies of these last few ones as you should be cut off from access to systems. The Revenue documents don't give enough detail as to what you were paid. Did they also contribute to a pension plan, continue to pay health insurance etc?
 
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