Why Is My Pay Lower (Ireland)
Explain why your Irish net pay dropped: PAYE, USC, PRSI, pension, AVC, cycle to work, health-insurance BIK and tax-credit shifts.
Region: Ireland (en-IE). Currency: EUR. Rules: Revenue 2026.
The payday maths that does not add up
Ciara, an accounts assistant in Waterford, opened her January payslip to find her net pay €225 lower than December's — same job, same gross, no explanation. Payroll said “it's probably tax”, which is both true and useless. This tool exists for that moment. It takes two payslips — previous and current gross and net — plus a handful of yes/no answers about what changed, and returns a decomposition of the drop: how much came from PAYE, how much from USC, PRSI, pension or AVC deductions, and how much remains unexplained.
How the diagnosis works
The engine recomputes what your net should be for the gross and marital status you enter under 2026 rules — 20% and 40% income tax around your cut-off point, the four USC bands topping out at 8% above €70,044, and Class A PRSI — then compares the expectation against both payslips. Your answers about RPN changes, pension changes, holiday adjustments and sick pay let it assign the gap to causes instead of presenting one opaque number. A drop fully explained by a pension increase you chose is fine; a drop assigned to PAYE with no RPN change is the cue to open myAccount.
Legitimate drops versus errors
- Scheduled and legitimate: the 1 October 2026 PRSI increase from 4.2% to 4.35%; a new AVC; health-insurance benefit-in-kind starting; repaying a Revenue underpayment through reduced credits.
- Legitimate but worth reviewing: credits moved to a second employment you have since left; a medical card USC exemption that lapsed although your income is still €60,000 or less.
- Likely errors: emergency tax persisting after you registered the job; USC charged at 8% on income under the band threshold; PRSI class switched without an employment change.
Frequently asked questions
My gross is identical but my net dropped. What are the usual suspects?
In rough order of frequency: a changed RPN (credits or cut-off point reallocated, often after adding a second job or updating civil status), the start or increase of a pension or AVC deduction, a benefit-in-kind such as health insurance beginning to be taxed through payroll, and emergency tax after a job change. The tool’s yes/no prompts walk through each so the delta gets attributed rather than guessed at.
Why did everyone’s pay dip slightly from October 2026?
All PRSI contribution rates rose by 0.15 percentage points on 1 October 2026, taking employee Class A PRSI from 4.2% to 4.35%. On a €4,500 monthly gross that is roughly €6.75 a month more PRSI. A small, uniform drop landing in the October payslip with no other changes is almost certainly this scheduled increase, not an error.
How do I tell if the drop is emergency tax, and can I get the money back?
Emergency tax has a signature: with a PPSN you keep a single rate band for four weeks, then all pay is taxed at 40%, and USC is charged at a flat 8% throughout. Register the job in Revenue myAccount under Add Job or Pension Details; once your employer receives an RPN, your position corrects and overpaid tax comes back through payroll.
Could my spouse’s or my own credit changes explain it?
Yes. Credits and rate bands can be reallocated between jointly assessed spouses, and between your own multiple employments. If someone moved credits — deliberately in myAccount, or as a knock-on from starting a pension or job elsewhere — one payslip’s PAYE rises even though nothing changed at that employer. The RPN change prompt in the tool captures exactly this case.
Confirm the diagnosis on the payslip itself
Once you know which deduction moved, upload the payslip to the Irish payslip checker for a line-by-line verification you can bring to payroll or use in myAccount.
Verify the payslip line by line