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Tax refunds

Emergency tax: why your new job is taxed at 40% and how to fix it

Emergency tax applies when your employer has no Revenue Payroll Notification for you. Register the job in myAccount and the excess is refunded through your next payslips.

Quick answer: Emergency tax is a temporary treatment, not a penalty. Once Revenue knows about your new employment it sends your employer an RPN with your credits and rate band. Your employer then recalculates on the cumulative basis and repays the excess through payroll. If the year ends before that happens, claim it by requesting a Statement of Liability in myAccount.

How emergency tax is applied

  • If your employer has your PPSN but no RPN: for the first four weeks you get a temporary rate band at 20% with no credits; after that all pay is taxed at 40%.
  • If your employer does not have your PPSN: all pay is taxed at 40% from the start.
  • Emergency USC is charged at 8% on all income.

How to stop it

  1. Give your employer your PPSN.
  2. Sign in to myAccount and go to PAYE Services, then Jobs and Pensions, and add the new job with the employer’s registration number and start date.
  3. If you left a previous job, cease it in the same place so your credits transfer.
  4. Revenue issues an RPN to the employer, usually within days. Your next payslip should show the correction.

Week 1 basis is different

After a job change Revenue sometimes issues an RPN on a week 1 basis rather than cumulative. You are not on emergency tax, but earlier unused credits are not applied. A year-end review fixes this. See week 1 basis.

If the year has ended

Request a Statement of Liability for that year in myAccount. Revenue recalculates the whole year with your full credits and repays the overpayment. Follow the PAYE Income Tax Return companion.

Related

Sources and review

Last reviewed 2026-10-28 (awaiting sign-off by a named tax-qualified reviewer). Every factual tax rule on this page is backed by a dated Revenue source. Spotted an error? Use the contact page.