Before you start

Evidence of identity
Proof of Irish address
Evidence of why you need a PPSN — usually a signed employment contract

Step-by-step

1
Apply for a PPS number
Applications go through MyWelfare with supporting documents and may require an in-person appointment. You must show a reason for needing one; a signed employment contract is the standard evidence.
OnlineWho: YouFree
2
Register for MyAccount with Revenue
Once you have the PPSN, register with Revenue online. This is where you register the employment itself.
OnlineWho: You
3
Register your job to get a Revenue Payroll Notification
Your employer cannot apply your correct tax credits until Revenue issues an RPN for you. Until then emergency tax applies, whatever your PPSN status.
OnlineWho: You
4
Check your first payslip
If emergency tax has been applied, the correction and refund come through payroll once the RPN issues — but only if the registration is completed.
Via employerWho: You
5
If you buy, check which council you are in before you model the Local Property Tax
LPT is a national self-assessed tax collected by Revenue, but each local authority may vary the basic rate by up to 15% either way. Cork City Council has used that power upward — its own public notice records a resolution varying the basic rate up by 9%. The factor is voted annually, and the county council decides its own, so two houses a mile apart can sit on different rates.
OnlineWho: YouSet annually by each council
6
Review your tax at year end
File through MyAccount to claim reliefs such as the rent tax credit, medical expenses and remote-working relief. None of them apply automatically.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Proof of Irish address
Employment contract
Immigration permission or IRP

Things most newcomers don’t know

Emergency tax is the standard newcomer mistake and it lands at the worst moment.

Without a PPSN and a registered employment, your employer withholds at a punitive rate with no credits applied. It is refunded eventually, but 'eventually' can mean your first two or three months are badly reduced at exactly the point you are finding a deposit in a market where the new-tenancy rent is 24% above the sitting one.

Source: Revenue — Emergency Tax

The PPSN alone does not stop emergency tax — the job has to be registered too.

People obtain the number, assume they are finished, and stay on emergency tax because Revenue never issued a payroll notification for that employer. Both steps are required and only the second one involves your employer.

Source: Revenue — Starting your first job

Income tax is identical in Cork and Dublin; only the property tax has a local dial.

Ireland has no local income tax, no city surcharge and no county rate on individuals. The single sub-national lever is the LPT local adjustment factor, which each of the 31 local authorities votes on annually within a ±15% band — so it only reaches you if you buy.

Source: Revenue — Local Property Tax

The rent tax credit is worth claiming and is routinely missed.

Ireland offers a credit for renters that must be claimed through your Revenue account. It is not applied automatically and can usually be claimed for prior years within the allowed window — worth checking in your first January here.

Source: Revenue — Income Tax

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the PPSN alone stops emergency tax — you must also register the employment.
Applying for a PPSN without documentary proof of why you need one.
Assuming Cork is cheaper than Dublin on income tax. It is not; the rates are national.
Modelling LPT on a neighbouring council's adjustment factor after buying across the 2019 boundary.
Missing the rent tax credit and other reliefs that require an active claim.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.