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Tax on a second job: splitting your credits and band
Last updated 16 October 2026
Revenue gives your credits and 20% band to your main job, so a second job is often taxed at 40%. How to split them in myAccount so you don't overpay.
PAYE treats one job as your main employment, and Revenue puts all your tax credits and your 20% band on that job. Any other job starts with no credits and no 20% band, so its pay is taxed at 40%, plus USC and PRSI. You don't pay more tax over the year because you have two jobs, but you can pay too much along the way.
An example
A single person earns €30,000 in a main job and €12,000 in a second job in 2026. The main job uses only part of the €44,000 band, but the unused part isn't passed to the second job unless they ask.
| Income tax in the main job (all credits and band) | €2,000.00 |
| Income tax in the second job (all at 40%) | €4,800.00 |
| Total deducted through payroll | €6,800.00 |
| Income tax actually due on €42,000 | €4,400.00 |
| Overpaid during the year | €2,400.00 |
The overpayment comes back if they file an Income Tax Return after the year ends. But it's better not to lend it to Revenue in the first place.
Splitting your credits and band
You can leave everything with the main job, divide it between the jobs, or move what the main job doesn't use to the other job:
- Sign in to myAccount and open 'Manage your tax for the current year'.
- Choose 'edit' above your employments and enter your expected pay before tax from each job.
- Accept Revenue's suggested split, or set your own.
Revenue then sends each employer a new Revenue Payroll Notification. Splitting part-way through the year usually puts the jobs on the Week 1 basis, so earlier pay days aren't recalculated. File an Income Tax Return at the end of the year to settle up.
What can't be split
- You get one Employee Tax Credit, however many jobs you have.
- Some items, such as flat rate expenses, belong to the job they relate to.
- USC is charged on your total income, with the bands also divided between jobs on your Revenue Payroll Notification.
- PRSI is worked out separately for each job on its own weekly pay.
Self-employed on the side
If the second income is self-employment rather than a job, it isn't taxed through payroll. Under €5,000 of non-PAYE income you can declare it on a PAYE return; above that you generally need to file Form 11. See Form 11 or Form 12.
Work it out
Sources
- Revenue: Tax rates, bands and reliefs (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: Cumulative basis (weekly credits and cut-off points, worked examples) (checked 16/10/2026)
- Revenue: How to submit a PAYE Income Tax Return (checked 16/10/2026)
General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.