Employee pay day - calculating Income Tax and Universal Social Charge

Weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly and monthly pay periods

Note

The information on this page refers to your current obligations. For your obligations before 1 January 2019, please see the Employers Guide to PAYE.

Tax credits, tax and Universal Social Charge (USC) cut-off points are applied in different ways, depending on how frequently you pay your employee.

Your employee may be taxed on an emergency basis. More information on how to apply this can be found in the emergency basis section.

Our weekly and monthly Income Tax calendar will help you organise your pay schedule.

Weekly pay

For cumulative basis, apply the tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points up to and including the week in which the pay day falls.

For week 1 basis, apply the amounts shown on the Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN).

If a pay date falls on 30 or 31 December, see ‘Week 53’ payments in the Employers’ Guide to PAYE paragraph 19.3.

Fortnightly pay

For cumulative basis, apply tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points as shown in the table.

Weeks in which to apply cut-off points for fortnightly pay
Income Tax week in which payment is made Cumulative tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points at week number
1 or 2 2
3 or 4 4
5 or 6 6

For week 1 basis, apply twice the amount of the weekly tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points shown on the RPN.

If a pay date falls on 30 or 31 December, see ‘Week 53’ payments in the Employers’ Guide to PAYE paragraph 19.3.

Four-weekly pay

For cumulative basis, apply tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points as shown in the table.

Weeks in which to apply cut-off point for four-weekly pay
Income Tax week in which payment is madeCumulative tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points at week number

1-4

4

5-8

8

9-12

12

For week 1 basis, apply four times the weekly amount of the tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points shown on the RPN.

If a pay date falls on 30 or 31 December, see ‘Week 53’ payments in the Employers’ Guide to PAYE paragraph 19.3.

Monthly pay

For cumulative basis, apply cumulative tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points up to and including the month in which the pay day falls.

For month 1 basis, use the monthly amount of tax credits, tax and USC cut-off points shown on the RPN.

Next: Twice-monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly pay periods