Corona virus and social protection

DepecheHead101

Hey guys, asking for my partner.

She was on the pandemic unemployment benefit (what a whack term, from the standpoint of January) until recently but is now returning to part time work. Roughly 20-25 hours a week or thereabouts.

She wants to get partial Jobseeker Benefit to cover the rest of her hours but other than the pandemic payment has never been in the system. She has no PPS card or previous benefits, and you cannot make an appointment to apply for one at the moment.

What would be the easiest way of getting through this? The benefit requires a card to apply online and the centres are closed for in person registration.

Many thanks.

lughildanach

DepecheHead101 wrote: »

Hey guys, asking for my partner.

She was on the pandemic unemployment benefit (what a whack term, from the standpoint of January) until recently but is now returning to part time work. Roughly 20-25 hours a week or thereabouts.

She wants to get partial Jobseeker Benefit to cover the rest of her hours but other than the pandemic payment has never been in the system. She has no PPS card or previous benefits, and you cannot make an appointment to apply for one at the moment.

What would be the easiest way of getting through this? The benefit requires a card to apply online and the centres are closed for in person registration.

Many thanks.

She can claim Jobseekers Benefit if she is working 3 days a week or less. Even if she works one hour on a day, she will be considered to be employed on that day. If her hours are spread over 4 days or more, she will not be able to claim Jobseekers Benefit.

If you don't have access to online applications, you can submit Jobseekers claim by completing form and sending by post. Link here https://www.gov.ie/en/service/1221b0-jobseekers-benefit/

Social Welfare offices are open, but with reduced hours
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/3915af-revised-intreo-office-opening-hours/

There may be other supports available depending on full circumstances.

DepecheHead101

lughildanach wrote: »

She can claim Jobseekers Benefit if she is working 3 days a week or less. Even if she works one hour on a day, she will be considered to be employed on that day. If her hours are spread over 4 days or more, she will not be able to claim Jobseekers Benefit.

If you don't have access to online applications, you can submit Jobseekers claim by completing form and sending by post. Link here https://www.gov.ie/en/service/1221b0-jobseekers-benefit/

Social Welfare offices are open, but with reduced hours
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/3915af-revised-intreo-office-opening-hours/

There may be other supports available depending on full circumstances.

Cheers.

Question... When someone gets paid on a Tuesday is that covering the current week Monday to Friday or paying prior week (paid in arrears)?

And, any link confirming? We've an employee coming back to work and he doesn't know how he is being paid.

Ogham

Deleted User wrote: »

Question... When someone gets paid on a Tuesday is that covering the current week Monday to Friday or paying prior week (paid in arrears)?

And, any link confirming? We've an employee coming back to work and he doesn't know how he is being paid.

It's for the previous week .
All workers are being told to end their claim on the day they start work - it's all over the Welfare twitter and website.

https://twitter.com/welfare_ie/status/1264873965652148224?s=20

Spook_ie

splinter65 wrote: »

What has she done wrong exactly? The government decided that during this emergency anyone who lost their job due to the virus is entitled to €350. Anyone, regardless of days/hours/rate of pay, who was working on 13 March. So she’s entitled. And no, it won’t be taxable. Wind your necks in.

Despite some earlier posts it would seem that CoVid payments are taxable after all

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/covid-19-unemployment-payment-could-result-in-tax-bill-for-recipients-1001608.html

splinter65

Spook_ie wrote: »

Despite some earlier posts it would seem that CoVid payments are taxable after all

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/covid-19-unemployment-payment-could-result-in-tax-bill-for-recipients-1001608.html

Yes it will be taxable. If you are single with €3300 tax credits like everyone else then the entire tax due on the €350 X 12 is €49.

Ogham

splinter65 wrote: »

Yes it will be taxable. If you are single with €3300 tax credits like everyone else then the entire tax due on the €350 X 12 is €49.

Not as simple as that.
Most people who go back to work and pay tax will pay at least €840 tax on the full 12 weeks worth. Some will pay as much as €1680 .

Details here - http://www.moneyguideireland.com/taxation-of-the-covid-unemployment-payment.html

CramCycle

Ogham wrote: »

Not as simple as that.
Most people who go back to work and pay tax will pay at least €840 tax on the full 12 weeks worth. Some will pay as much as €1680 .

Details here - http://www.moneyguideireland.com/taxation-of-the-covid-unemployment-payment.html

But as explained earlier in the thread, only those who earn a large amount are going to be paying those rates of tax. For many it will likely be subsumed into their next jobs tax for the remainder of the year. Long story short, if you get a job after this, your take home might be slightly reduced or increased but in reality since you typically earned more than 350 a week anyway, you will probably see a slight increase in your monthly or weekly take home pay.

Lets say for example (made up numbers time), you earned €100000 a year (net €61489). Your take home every month for the first 3 months would have been €5,124 (roughly). You go on Covid 19 payments for 12 weeks at €350 a week and then by some miracle you go straight back into your typically €100000 a year job. In reality, your gross for the year will no longer be €100000, but €81123 (rounded). Your net income for the year is now €52428. But you were paying tax for the first 3 months like you would earn 100k so you were overpaying tax, in hindsight to the tune of a little under €2500.

Long story short, there are very few people who will be hit with a tax bill at the end of the year unless their accountant is incompetent.

splinter65

Ogham wrote: »

Not as simple as that.
Most people who go back to work and pay tax will pay at least €840 tax on the full 12 weeks worth. Some will pay as much as €1680 .

Details here - http://www.moneyguideireland.com/taxation-of-the-covid-unemployment-payment.html

Most people? Most people on PUP are either on minimum wage or just above it. People in the service industry.

Ogham

splinter65 wrote: »

Most people? Most people on PUP are either on minimum wage or just above it. People in the service industry.

Yes - and they will be taxed on it
Min Wage = full time just over €20k gross
If Revenue do the same as they do with Jobseekers Benefit - they will have tax to pay of 20% of the Covid payment.

Banana Republic 1

Away With The Fairies wrote: »

If someone was to get sick, how are they to take themselves down to the social welfare office spreading the virus more.

Phone!!!!

CramCycle

Ogham wrote: »

Yes - and they will be taxed on it
Min Wage = full time just over €20k gross
If Revenue do the same as they do with Jobseekers Benefit - they will have tax to pay of 20% of the Covid payment.

As with my previous example, lets sub in the minimum wage:

You expect to earn about €21000 a year (net €18992). Your take home every month for the first 3 months would have been €1583. You go on Covid 19 payments for 12 weeks at €350 a week and then you go straight back into your job as it was. Your gross for the year is no longer be €21000, but €19950. Your net income for the year is now €18241. Your take home for the year will be down €63 a month but your tax at the start probably over taxed you by about €76euro. Your tax averaged out over the payments won't really be much more than €106. So most will never notice unless this unless the accountant is a muppet, in which case, they might have an outstanding tax bill at the end of the year of €30

It will vary person to person and business to business but at the end of the year, anyone saying you will have to payback a huge chunk of this is not living in the real world. It simply won't be a noticeable thing for 99% of situations. €350 a week is low enough that if it was your normal pay, you'd never reach PRSI payment levels, USC would be €184/year and annual tax would end up being €340

Banana Republic 1

DepecheHead101 wrote: »

Hey guys, asking for my partner.

She was on the pandemic unemployment benefit (what a whack term, from the standpoint of January) until recently but is now returning to part time work. Roughly 20-25 hours a week or thereabouts.

She wants to get partial Jobseeker Benefit to cover the rest of her hours but other than the pandemic payment has never been in the system. She has no PPS card or previous benefits, and you cannot make an appointment to apply for one at the moment.

What would be the easiest way of getting through this? The benefit requires a card to apply online and the centres are closed for in person registration.

Many thanks.

If she ways born in Ireland then she has a pps. Ring your local welfare office.

Spook_ie

It doesn't matter what figures you want to put in, it counts as taxable pay and that's all that matters, you may end up in a taxable situation or you may not, but it is taxable, unlike certain payments like child allowance etc.

splinter65

Ogham wrote: »

Yes - and they will be taxed on it
Min Wage = full time just over €20k gross
If Revenue do the same as they do with Jobseekers Benefit - they will have tax to pay of 20% of the Covid payment.

You do know that people on minimum wage have the same tax credits and cut off point as everyone else? I don’t think you invest and how tax works. Did you think that they pay 20% on the entire weeks wages or something??

Ogham

Deleted User wrote: »

Question... When someone gets paid on a Tuesday is that covering the current week Monday to Friday or paying prior week (paid in arrears)?

And, any link confirming? We've an employee coming back to work and he doesn't know how he is being paid.

Welfare have just clarified the payment dates. My previous reply was wrong -sorry.
Payments received this week (26th) are for the period 15-21 May


https://twitter.com/welfare_ie/status/1265632380838203393?s=20

freshpopcorn

Hi, I'm certain this has been asked before.(So, Sorry)
I a returning to work Tomorrow am I best to sign off this evening or in the morning?
I've heard different things.

Banana Republic 1

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Hi, I'm certain this has been asked before.(So, Sorry)
I a returning to work Tomorrow am I best to sign off this evening or in the morning?
I've heard different things.

Ring them in the morning

freshpopcorn

Banana Republic 1 wrote: »

Ring them in the morning

Thanks, I'll sort something out so!

Ogham

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Hi, I'm certain this has been asked before.(So, Sorry)
I a returning to work Tomorrow am I best to sign off this evening or in the morning?
I've heard different things.

Do it online tomorrow .
But it won't make a big difference because Welfare have said if you are out of work for just one day (Thur to Fri) you are entitled to a full week of Covid payment .
https://www.gov.ie/en/service/a5aed9-how-to-close-a-covid-19-pandemic-unemployment-payment/

Ogham

splinter65 wrote: »

You do know that people on minimum wage have the same tax credits and cut off point as everyone else? I don’t think you invest and how tax works. Did you think that they pay 20% on the entire weeks wages or something??

Once someone earns over €16500 in a year - yes they will , in effect, pay 20% on their wages. So - however that income is paid (wages or covid) - they will be liable for 20% of all income over €16500 in tax .

freshpopcorn

Ogham wrote: »

Do it online tomorrow .
But it won't make a big difference because Welfare have said if you are out of work for just one day (Thur to Fri) you are entitled to a full week of Covid payment .
https://www.gov.ie/en/service/a5aed9-how-to-close-a-covid-19-pandemic-unemployment-payment/

I jumped the gun a little and did it a while ago and said I was returning to work tomorrow.
Should that be okay?

lughildanach

Ogham wrote: »

Once someone earns over €16500 in a year - yes they will , in effect, pay 20% on their wages. So - however that income is paid (wages or covid) - they will be liable for 20% of all income over €16500 in tax .

Absolutely this is correct. However, what also needs to be taken into account is that if your income was above 350 and has now dropped, you will likely have overpaid tax up to this point in the year. For some cases this can be a significant offset, or perhaps even completely absorb the tax due on the PUP.

And if your income was below 350, the vast majority of the tax liability (if not all of it) would be absorbed by tax credits.

And where there is an overpayment due, it can be spread over the year through tax credits.

It is important that people realise the tax implications of this, and each case will be different depending on their circumstances. But there are very few cases where the tax liability on the PUP will create significant hardship.

CramCycle

lughildanach wrote: »

Absolutely this is correct. However, what also needs to be taken into account is that if your income was above 350 and has now dropped, you will likely have overpaid tax up to this point in the year. For some cases this can be a significant offset, or perhaps even completely absorb the tax due on the PUP.

And if your income was below 350, the vast majority of the tax liability (if not all of it) would be absorbed by tax credits.

And where there is an overpayment due, it can be spread over the year through tax credits.

It is important that people realise the tax implications of this, and each case will be different depending on their circumstances. But there are very few cases where the tax liability on the PUP will create significant hardship.

100% but people are scaremongering about it and implying that everyone will have to pay back at least €840 in a lump sum. It's like none of them have any experience with how the tax system works for the typical worker. There is a small wedge of worker who earned between €317 and €350 who might have a small liability, likely to be less than €120, and will be absorbed over the rest of the year of they go back into work after the payment finishes. If they don't go into work they are likely going to see that amount absorbed by their tax credits. So, long story short, people need to stop trying to freak people out.

splinter65

Ogham wrote: »

Once someone earns over €16500 in a year - yes they will , in effect, pay 20% on their wages. So - however that income is paid (wages or covid) - they will be liable for 20% of all income over €16500 in tax .

But if they earn more then €350 per week normally (39 hours x€10.10 =€393) and they dropped back to €350 then they have overpaid any tax that has been deducted and will have to have that refunded.
Any tax liability will be small and will be spread out over time.
It’s amusing that you are absolutely determined that these people will get a huge bill from revenue.
It’s not going to happen.

StackSteevens

Ogham wrote: »

Once someone earns over €16500 in a year - yes they will , in effect, pay 20% on their wages. So - however that income is paid (wages or covid) - they will be liable for 20% of all income over €16500 in tax .

I'm amazed that you haven't also scaremongered about the MASSSIVE bill for USC that they'll also have accumulated!

In some cases, families may even have to consider selling the holiday home, sacking the au pair, or ending the golf club membership. And the private health insurance is a gonner!

All that fandango

Hi I have a question hopefully someone might be able to answer (btw was this the benefits megathread renamed?)...

So today I was told I have lost my job. Im a full time college student so this was a part time job. I have been in receipt of the 350 PUP since late March. I understand tomorrow is the last day of the 350 for me. Will I now automatically get moved onto the lower payment of 203 going forward until I hopefully get a new job soon? Because traditionally college students are not entitled to job seekers..?

CramCycle

All that fandango wrote: »

Hi I have a question hopefully someone might be able to answer (btw was this the benefits megathread renamed?)...

So today I was told I have lost my job. Im a full time college student so this was a part time job. I have been in receipt of the 350 PUP since late March. I understand tomorrow is the last day of the 350 for me. Will I now automatically get moved onto the lower payment of 203 going forward until I hopefully get a new job soon? Because traditionally college students are not entitled to job seekers..?

Unless you finished your course, no, full time college students are not allowed claim Jobseekers AFAIK. If your enrolled for nest September then I think that's it for now. There may be an exception for mature students.

SleetAndSnow

All that fandango wrote: »

Hi I have a question hopefully someone might be able to answer (btw was this the benefits megathread renamed?)...

So today I was told I have lost my job. Im a full time college student so this was a part time job. I have been in receipt of the 350 PUP since late March. I understand tomorrow is the last day of the 350 for me. Will I now automatically get moved onto the lower payment of 203 going forward until I hopefully get a new job soon? Because traditionally college students are not entitled to job seekers..?

If you are currently on the PUP, then yes you will continue to receive the PUP. If you were earning 199.99 on average before the pandemic then you will get 350 still but if you were below that mark you will start to receive 203 each week until August 10th.

College students are entitled to the PUP, but we cannot apply to the Jobseekers which will most likely need to be done after August 10th if you still can't find a job after that time.