To calculate your Tax and USC manually lets you compare your calculation to how much you ACTUALLY paid.
The difference in these two figures (your calculation and amount you actually paid) will reveal if you underpaid or overpaid your Tax and USC.

Before you start you will need to write down your figures 1 – 5 below

1. Gross Income for PAYE 
2. Gross Income for USC  (this figure may differ to 1. if you are paying into a pension scheme)
3. TAX actually deducted
4. USC actually deducted
5. Your Non-PAYE Income

Note: Don’t worry if you have zero for any of the above figures

You can find your 1-4 figures by checking your Employment Detail Summary available from 2019 in your ‘myAccount’
or
You can find your 1-5 figures if you follow Step 2 in my article ‘How to claim Tax back in Ireland‘ within the PAYE Income and Non-PAYE Income pages.

Step 1 Calculate your PAYE Tax manually

Step 1.1  Add your Income

Gross PAYE Income

Non PAYE taxable Income

= Total Income

Step 1.2  Calculate your Gross Tax (20% + 40%)

Calculate your Tax at 20%
Your Income (under €35,300) x 20%

Calculate your Tax at 40%
Your Income (above €35,300) x 40%

= Gross Tax (A)

If you are single then your tax band is €35,300

• • • Income < €35,300 is taxed at 20%
    • Income > €35,300 is taxed at 40%.

Check other / married Tax bands chart here

Step 1.3  Add your Tax Credits

Personal Tax Credit
Employee Tax Credit
Add other Tax Credits
= Total Tax Credits (B)

Note: If your Health Expenses are €200 for instance, then your Health expenses Tax Credit will be €40 (€200 x 20%) 

Step 1.4  Subtract your Tax Credits from your Gross Tax

Gross Tax (A)

Total Tax Credits (B)

= Tax Payable to Revenue

If A is higher than B = this means Tax is Payable or owed to Revenue

If B is higher than A = this means that no Tax is due to Revenue.

Step 1.5  Compare Tax Payable to Tax Actually deducted/paid

Tax Payable to Revenue

V

Tax ACTUALLY paid (written down earlier)

Step 1.6  Calculate your PAYE Tax manually – conclusion

• • If Tax Payable to Revenue is lower than Tax Actually paid, you’ll get a Tax Refund
    Also, if Tax Payable to Revenue is zero and you’ve Actually paid Tax, you’ll get a Tax Refund

• • If Tax Payable to Revenue is higher than Tax Actually paid, you’ll have to pay Revenue the difference.

• • You will not get a refund for any Tax Credit you haven’t used up.

Step 2 Calculate your USC manually

• USC is not charged on Dept of Social welfare payments, maternity, paternity benefit bank interest
• USC is not charged on income under €13,000 therefore, if your income is less than €13,000 you are exempt from USC.

Step 2.1  Add your Income

Income for USC (can be different to Gross Income if you’ve paid a pension)

Non PAYE taxable income

= Total Income

Step 2.2  Calculate your USC Payable to Revenue

Depending on how much you earn, USC can be calculated using 4 different rates

Rates for 2020  search previous USC rates here

1. 1. 1. Calculate the first €12,012 of your income x 0.5% (½ of 1%)
      2. the next €8,472 of your income x 2%
      3. and the next part of your income up to €70,044 x 4.5%
      4. Income over €70,044 x 8%

Add these different amounts together to get the Total USC payable

Example 1.  If your income is €12,850

USC band	USC rate	USC total €
12,012	.05%	0.00
838	2%	0.00
12,850		0.00	Total USC Payable to Revenue

The USC = 0.00 because income under €13,000 is not subject to USC

Example 2.  If your income is €30,000

USC band	USC rate	USC total €
12,012	.05%	60.06
8,472	2%	169.44
9,516	4.5%	428.22
30,000		657.72	Total USC Payable to Revenue

Step 2.3  Compare USC Payable to USC Actually deducted/paid

USC Payable to Revenue

V

USC ACTUALLY paid (written down earlier)

Step 2.4 Calculate your USC manually – conclusion

• • If the USC Payable to Revenue you calculated is lower than USC Actually paid, you’ll get a USC Refund
    Also, if USC Payable to Revenue is zero and you’ve Actually paid USC, you’ll get a USC Refund

• • If the USC Payable to Revenue you calculated is higher than USC Actually paid, you’ll have to pay Revenue the difference.