Paying social insurance (PRSI)

Social insurance (PRSI) is money paid into the ‘Social Insurance Fund’. The Government uses this money to pay for social welfare benefits and pensions.

Who pays social insurance contributions?

Most employees aged 16 and over pay social insurance contributions. The amount you pay depends on your earnings and the type of work you do. For this reason, it is called ‘Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI)’.

Your employer is responsible for deducting PRSI from your pay. They also pay separate ‘employer PRSI contributions’ for employees aged 16 and over. You can check your payslip for details of your PRSI contributions.

Self-employed workers also pay PRSI – read more in our page Class S PRSI.

PRSI increase

On 1 October 2024, all PRSI contribution rates increase by 0.1%.

You can see the new rates in the Department of Social Protection’s publication (pdf).

Your employer needs your Personal Public Service (PPS) number to make PRSI contributions for you.

The amount of PRSI you and your employer pay depends on how much you earn and the type of work you do. Read more in our page social insurance classes.

Your employer:

• Deducts employee PRSI contributions directly from your wages, and
• Pays separate employer PRSI contributions for you, which are not deducted from your wages.

Revenue collects all PRSI.

Your employer and the Department of Social Protection (DSP) keep a record PRSI contributions made by you and your employer.

By law, you must get a payslip when you are paid. Your payslip must show any deductions from your pay, including PRSI contributions.

Read the DSP’s Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) Employer Guide (pdf).

Paying PRSI contributions when you’re sick

You do not pay PRSI contributions if your employer does not pay you when you are sick. But, if you are getting Illness Benefit, Injury Benefit and Invalidity Pension, you can get credited contributions.

If your employer pays you when you are sick, you will continue paying PRSI. Read about your entitlements to sick leave and sick pay.

Your employer may continue to pay you while you are out sick if you give them any Illness Benefit you get from the DSP. In this case, your employer only pays a PRSI contribution on the amount of sick pay, minus the amount of Illness Benefit.

If your employer pays you when you are sick and allows you to keep your Illness Benefit, your employer pays a PRSI contribution on the full amount of the sick pay, ignoring the Illness Benefit payment.

If your employer does not make the correct PRSI contribution, they will be held responsible for the cost of the entire contribution, and any arrears that may be due. Unpaid PRSI can be recovered in court as a debt to the State.

If your employer does not make PRSI contributions on your behalf, they may need to repay the DSP certain social welfare payments, which you may have received illegally while working for them. These benefits include:

• Illness Benefit
• Jobseeker's Benefit
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Pre-Retirement Allowance
• Invalidity Pension
• Working Family Payment

Your employer may also be responsible for:

• Any benefit you have lost because they didn’t pay PRSI contributions on your behalf
• The repayment of social welfare assistance paid to you in lieu of lost benefit

PRSI inspections

Every year, inspectors from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) visit many employers. This is to find employers who:

• Don’t pay any PRSI contributions for their employees
• Don’t keep proper records for their employees
• Encourage employees to claim jobseeker payments
• Understate wages being paid to employees

The DSP's inspectors have power to inspect records. There are penalties for people who obstruct or refuse to supply information, or who fail to keep or produce records and documents.

In some cases, the DSP uses a Special Collection System to collect PRSI contributions from employees who are insurable under Irish social security law, but who do not come within the PAYE system.

If your employer sends you abroad for a short work assignment, EU Regulations and bilateral social security agreements allow you to keep paying PRSI in Ireland, instead of transferring to the social security system of another country.

Example: Working temporarily in the EU

For example, if you are employed in Ireland and your employer sends you to work temporarily in another EU state, you will continue to pay PRSI under the Irish system for 24 months.

If you are going to work in Europe for a short time, you need an A1 Certificate (formerly E101 Form) to show where you will pay your social insurance. Your employer (or you, if you are self-employed) should apply for an A1 Certificate at least 4 weeks before you start work in another EU country. You can apply on the Welfare Partners platform.

Countries outside the EU

Ireland has bilateral or ‘reciprocal’ agreements with some countries outside of the EU. If you are sent to work temporarily in one of these countries, you will continue to pay PRSI in Ireland for a certain period of time.

Countries not covered by EU regulations or bilateral agreements

You must continue to make Irish PRSI contributions for up to 12 months if your employer sends you to work temporarily in a country that:

• Is not covered by EU Regulations, or
• Does not have a bilateral security agreement with Ireland

If your employment abroad lasts longer than 12 months, you may be able to stay in the Irish PRSI system for longer than 12 months.

If you are working abroad and are not in the Irish PRSI system, you can choose to pay voluntary contributions.

Workers posted to Ireland

You may be exempt from paying Irish PRSI contributions for up to 12 months if you are temporarily sent to work in Ireland and:

• You’re from a country not covered by EU Regulations, or that Ireland does not have a bilateral social security agreement with
• Your employer is not ordinarily registered in Ireland, and doesn’t have their main place of business in any EEA State, or a country with which Ireland has a Bilateral or Reciprocal Agreement (such as the UK).

Read about combining social insurance contributions from abroad.

The amount of PRSI you and your employer pay depends on:

• Your earnings
• The social insurance class you’re insured under

Class A employees

If you earn €352 or less a week

If you are earning €352 or less per week (before tax is deducted), you will not pay any social insurance.

This does not mean that you are not getting a contribution. You are still covered by Class A social insurance, as your employer is paying social insurance on your behalf.

If you earn over €352 a week

From 1 October 2024, if you earn over €352 per week, you pay 4.1% PRSI on all your earnings.

If you earn between €352.01 and €424 per week, you get a tapered credit to reduce the amount of PRSI you pay. The amount of the credit depends on your earnings.

The maximum credit is €12, which applies to earnings of €352.01 per week.

If you earn between €352.01 and €424 per week, the maximum credit of €12 is reduced by one-sixth of the amount of your weekly earnings over €352.01.

Examples of PRSI calculations

If you earn more than €352.01, you can work out how much PRSI you will pay in 4 steps:

1. Calculate one-sixth of your earnings over €352.01.
2. Subtract this from the maximum tapered credit of €12 to get your PRSI credit.
3. From 1 October 2024, calculate the basic PRSI charge at 4.1% of your earnings.
4. Deduct the PRSI credit from the PRSI charge to get the amount of PRSI you pay.

Employers' PRSI

From 1 October 2024, employers pay 8.9% Class A employer PRSI (up from 8.8%) on weekly earnings up to €496.

From 1 October 2024, employers pay 11.15% Class A employer PRSI (up from 11.05%) on weekly earnings over €496.

Read more about the amount of PRSI paid in each class on Gov.ie.

Your employer deducts your PRSI contribution from your wages. By law, you are entitled to inspect the PRSI record kept by your employer about you. You can also get a statement of your record from your employer every 3 months.

You can access your Employment Detail Summary online through Revenue’s myAccount service. This has details of your pay, as well as the PRSI, income tax, and Universal Social Charge (USC) that has been deducted by your employer and paid to Revenue over the year.

You can also request a copy of your complete PRSI record online at MyWelfare.ie. If you have difficulty using this online facility, you can contact the PRSI Records customer service team for assistance (see ‘More information’ below).