Skip to main content
Normal View

Employment Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2017

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Questions (195)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

195. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Finance the numbers of live PAYE taxpayers who are registered with the Revenue Commissioners, that is, PAYE taxpayers who are not designated as deceased, unemployed or emigrated and if he will compare this figure with the number of persons at work that are understood by the CSO to be PAYE workers. [24573/17]

View answer

Written answers

I am advised by Revenue Commissioners that, at end 2016, there were around 2,375,600 live PAYE employees on Revenue records. This includes cases earning but not in the tax net. It should be noted that PAYE employments on Revenue records also include retired persons in receipt of private or occupational pensions.

Comparison between Revenue and CSO figures are not straightforward for a number of reasons. Revenue figures are based on the population of taxpayers filing returns (or for whom returns are filed on their behalf by employers), while CSO data primarily rely on statistical surveys. In addition, Revenue data record tax units (married persons or civil partners who have elected or who have been deemed to have elected for joint assessment are counted as one tax unit) rather than individuals.

The following table sets out the number of tax units considered to be either PAYE, self employed or ‘mixed’ (with incomes from both employment and self employment) on Revenue records for 2014 (the latest year for which complete data are available).

Year

PAYE

Self Employed

Mixed

2014

1,704,310

188,799

330,939

For the same year, the CSO Quarterly national household survey (QNHS) indicates 1,605,500 million persons aged over 15s in employment and 320,200 in self employment. As noted for the reasons above, the figures are not expected to match exactly.

Top
Share