Working multiple jobs is stressful enough, without having to worry about accidentally paying more tax than you should. However, if you’ve been working two or more jobs over the past two years, it’s more than likely you have been overpaying tax and you may well be entitled to claim tax back.
By default, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system considers one job to be your main employment and Revenue applies your tax credits and associated rate band to that job. If you are working two or more jobs, you must inform Revenue as soon as you start work, so they can send you a new Tax Credit Certificate (TCC) for the other job(s).
Each employer you work for should have a separate TCC applied – if you don’t do this, your new employer(s) may deduct the wrong amount of tax from your salary. Once you have an individual TCC in place for each of your employers, there are three ways you can split your tax credits and rate bands, to make sure you don’t overpay tax.
If you believe you have overpaid tax, you can apply for a tax review online to determine whether you are due any tax back.
3 ways to split tax credits and rate bands between multiple jobs
Splitting tax credits and rate bands between multiple jobs won’t change the total amount of tax you have to pay. What it will do, however, is ensure you pay an even amount of tax in each job, as well as help you get the full benefit of your tax credits and rate bands throughout the year.
Your options are as follows:
1. Leave all your tax credits, tax rate band and Universal Social Charge (USC) rate band with your primary employer.
2. Divide your tax credits, tax rate band and USC rate band between your jobs in any way you see fit.
3. Transfer any unused tax credits, tax rate band and USC rate band to your other jobs.
Please note – some tax credits or deductions, like flat rate expenses, cannot be split because they are only given for specific jobs.
If you’ve been working two or more jobs and believe you might have overpaid tax, you can apply for a Tax Review online, to determine if you can make a tax back claim. We will investigate whether or not you are due any tax back, and if you’re not due a refund, there will be no charge for the review.
Claiming tax back has never been so simple – fill out our 60-second application form to get the ball rolling today.
