Lloyds teams up with heart charity
LLOYDS Pharmacy has announced a new charity partnership with the Irish Heart Foundation.
The pharmacy chain, which has branches in Baltinglass, Wicklow town, Greystones and Bray, will work with the Irish Heart Foundation to increase heart health awareness and encourage positive, preventative steps that promote a healthy and active lifestyle.
The two-year partnership will see Lloyds run positive heart health-focused fundraising campaigns across the country while many of the company’s pharmacists will be speciall trained in heart health so that they can offer customers advice and guidance.
The partnership has been welcomed by Pat Watt, Director of Sales and Marketing at Lloyds.
‘ Together, our mission will be to raise awareness of heart health and the positive and proactive steps we all need to take to safeguard it,’ he said. IF YOU feel that you are paying too much tax then check your payslip and see how much is deducted each week in Income Tax PAYE. This is separate to other deductions for PRSI and Universal Social Charges (USC).
Your employer should hold a Certificate of Tax Credits (known as Form P2C) for you for the year 2018.
If you are single, it will give annual credits of €1,650 single person and another €1,650 PAYE credit or a total of €3,300 for a year. Dividing it by 52 gives you a weekly credit of €63.46, which figure should be on your Form P2C and usually also on your payslip.
The equivalent weekly figure for a married person whose spouse does not work outside the home is €3,300 married person and another €1,650 PAYE credit or a total of €4,950 for a year. Dividing it by 52 gives you a weekly credit of €95.19 and this figure should be on your Form P2C and on your payslip.
The Certificate of Tax Credits or Form P2C also contains the tax rate bands. If you have just one employment and you are a single person, the first €34,550 of income is taxed at 20 per cent and the balance is taxed at 40 per cent.
The equivalent figures for a married person whose spouse does not work outside the home is €43,550 at 20 per cent and the balance is taxed at 40 per cent.
A lot of people are confused about USC which is also deducted from them weekly. It is a tax in another name and was introduced as a crisis measure when Government revenue collapsed. Strictly speaking, it should now be abolished as Government revenue has now exceeded their pre-crisis level of €50bn annually.
USC is a tax on individuals and it does not matter if you are married or single. The current rate of USC is as follows:
Up to €12,012 €12,012 to €19,372 €19,373 to €70,044 PAYE over €70,044
0.5% 2% 4.75% 8%
Unlike Income Tax, there are no exemptions except payments from the Department of Social Protection, such as Unemployment Benefit or the Old Age Pension.
Where paid weekly, the amount of USC deducted should be based on 1/52nd of the above amounts meaning €231 at 0.5%, €141 at 2% and €974 at 4.75%. The system does not allow your employer to give you first the low rate and then the next rate.
Finally, PRSI will also be deducted from your weekly wages. If your gross earnings are less than €352 in a week, then you are PRSI Class AO with no PRSI to be deducted.
If you earn between €352 and €424 you will be treated as Class AX (up to €376) or Class AL (up to €424) but will suffer PRSI at 4%. There is a PRSI Credit of €12 per week reduced by 1/6th of earnings over €352. Weekly earning from €424 are PRSI Class A1 and are subject to PRSI at 4% with no PRSI Credit. Thus wages of €500 are liable to PRSI of €20.