Tax rebates due as rate cut is back-dated to January 1

People earning between €20,000 and €60,000 a year are set to receive a tax rebate as a result of the Budget measure reducing the top tax rate from 35 per cent to 32 per cent. The measure was backdated to January 1, meaning that a rebate of over-paid tax is due. Whether employees see the money in their next payslip depends on how quickly their bosses update payroll systems. A Finance Ministry spokesman told The Times that employers would shortly be receiving a circular with payroll update instructions from the Department of Inland Revenue. Once payrolls are updated, the Final Settlement System mechanism would automatically look at how much income tax a person had already paid this year, calculate how much they should have paid, and refund the difference, the spokesman said. Full story in The Times.