Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act (TCA) 1997 imposes a legal obligation on all employers to make deductions at source under the PAYE system from the payment of emoluments to employees and to report these amounts to Revenue as they are being paid.
I am advised by Revenue that part-time lecturers/teachers/trainers are generally engaged under a contract of service (employee) as opposed to a contract for service (self-employed). Accordingly, payments made to such individuals should be made net of statutory deductions for Income Tax, USC and PRSI under the PAYE system.
Revenue has also confirmed to me that this position need not apply for periods up to 31 August 2019 in situations where a guest lecturer provides a ‘once off’ lecture (maximum of once or twice per year to the same body). Such lecture fees must of course be returned by the persons concerned under self-assessment rules.
This exception does not apply from 1 September 2019 and all payments made to guest lecturers from that date forward should be paid net of statutory deductions for Income Tax, USC and PRSI under the PAYE system. This is in accordance with the new administrative arrangements introduced for PAYE as part of the PAYE Modernisation project on 1 January 2019.
Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual, which is available at TDM 05-01-11 contains further clarifications on this issue.