can new employer check what you earned

Shaz

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Can a new employer check what you used to earn in a previous job? ie can they check with Revenue Comm, can they ask previous employer?
 
Not if you have these details removed from your P45. However it's possible that they can still infer some or all of the details from the P60 details for the yaer in which you switched from one (or more) employment(s) to another. Why does it matter once you have secured the job and they're happy that you are the right candidate for the price they are paying?
 
A previous employer will (should?) not reveal your salary, but they will confirm this information if you give it to your new employer.
 
Did you negotiate your new salary by telling a few fibs about your previous salary?
 
extopia said:
Did you negotiate your new salary by telling a few fibs about your previous salary?

Is that not very common? I certainly have done it more than once...
 
I didn't say it wasn't. Was just wondering why he asked. I suppose it doesn't occur to most people when they inflate their salaries that they will in all likelihood catch themselves out the minute they hand over that P45 (or whatever it is) to payroll.
 
extopia said:
I didn't say it wasn't. Was just wondering why he asked. I suppose it doesn't occur to most people when they inflate their salaries that they will in all likelihood catch themselves out the minute they hand over that P45 (or whatever it is) to payroll.
If they don't have the P45 amended and reissued first to remove these details. Of course some of these details may still be possible to infer from P60 end of year details - I can't remember. To be honest - even allowing for legitimate privacy concerns - starting off with an employer telling lies and trying to hide details from them doesn't seem like a great platform for a trusting employee-employer relationship but that's obviously a subjective opinion.
 
Presumably, an employer who 'fibbed' at interview about the salary being offered wouldn't later (when the new recruit questioned their first pay cheque) get away with saying: 'Ah, yeah, but we really wanted you to accept the job...'? ;)
 
When an employer is filling in your P60 he is expected to fill in the amount that you received from previous employer and the amount of tax paid in year to date including from previous job.
How can he fill it in if he does not know it.
This would lead me to believe that he is entitled to that information.
 
Sometimes peoples salary may not reflect their responsibilities accurately. This may happen in the case of new graduates/school leavers. They may be happy to take on a lot of responsibility for low pay, just to get the experience.

However, if these people are moving jobs, then the new employer should pay the 'going rate' for their experience. Some new employers will still only pay 2k more than the employee is currently getting.

Also people who get made redundant might take a lower paying job just to stay in the workforce. If they are changing jobs, surely they are entitled to a salary to reflect their previous experience/qualifications. The employer should not have the attitude that X is only earning 22K, so they will be happy with 24K, even though they could have 20 yrs experience at a senior level. Some employers actually use this just to get someone to work for low pay.

Also, changing jobs can be a bit of a gamble. A lot of things could go wrong. If you are found to be unsuitable, you could be let go, and then you would have no job!! You are taking a chance in that the new working conditions could be less desirable, the people could be difficult to get on with etc. Add all this to the effort of starting a new job, putting in extra hours to learn this job, and an extra E20 net a week does not make this worthwhile.

I feel that I would need to get about 3 to 4 K extra in order to change jobs. By the time you pay tax, you would need to take home E40 net extra.

The way to get around this with prospective employers is to cost out your benefits, eg free canteen, VHI etc. When asked what salary you are on, you could add in these benefits and give a range e.g 30 to 35K for your job. Then you are not caught out in a lie. If there are any queries about your P45, you could say that you just got a pay increase in your last job. You could always say that some of the benefits in your last job were non monetary.
 
woods said:
When an employer is filling in your P60 he is expected to fill in the amount that you received from previous employer and the amount of tax paid in year to date including from previous job.
How can he fill it in if he does not know it.
This would lead me to believe that he is entitled to that information.
Not necessarily. I presume they get this from the P45 and that form can definitely be amended to remove previous earnings and hide the details from a new employer. In that case I guess the employer fills in the earnings from this employment and leaves the earnings from previous employments in the same tax year blank on the basis that they don't have the details.
 
buzybee said:
Sometimes peoples salary may not reflect their responsibilities accurately. This may happen in the case of new graduates/school leavers. They may be happy to take on a lot of responsibility for low pay, just to get the experience.

However, if these people are moving jobs, then the new employer should pay the 'going rate' for their experience. Some new employers will still only pay 2k more than the employee is currently getting.
Then that might be an indicator that such an employer is not worth working for. If the candidate and employer cannot discuss things frankly and negotiate openly then it would seem to me to bode ill for a trusting relationship in the future. Some people might not care but for me this could be a sticking point (from an employee point of view). If an employer didn't like the honest explanation about previous experience and the reason for lower earnings than I was seeking for the position in question and just wanted to apply a formulaic current + €xK to salary negotiations then I would have serious reservations about working for them myself.
 
To clarify some of the incorrect points above- Most interviews presume people are lying about their current/previous salary when ask the question "how much are youon and what would it take you to move?".
Once that question is asked its time to play hardball. Unless you're a graduate and have no cards to play with.
Your current empliyer has no right whatsoever to find out what you earned previously in any other job. To keep this info from them is quite simple. Ask the tax office to send out a week1 or month1 basis tax allowance cert, and tell them that you do not want your new employer to know your previous earnings and so they are not to sent out the details when they receive your p45. They are used to this request and most understand it. There is nothing underhand or strange about this request.
If you undepay or overpay tax because of this week1/month1 basis you can sort it out after year end.

If your payroll get stroppy about not having all your details for the year, tell them its between you and the tax office. Because it is. The company you are working for isn't going to lose money. Most payroll people are clueless when it comes to peoples tax.
 
ClubMan said:
What specific points were incorrect? :confused:
"
When an employer is filling in your P60 he is expected to fill in the amount that you received from previous employer and the amount of tax paid in year to date including from previous job.
How can he fill it in if he does not know it.
This would lead me to believe that he is entitled to that information."
 
With respect to the comments above about amending P45s, who is going to do this?

The P45 contains information such as total pay and tax paid. This information is required (by the new employer) if the employee is paid on a cumulative basis. If the Pay is overstated (and tax left the same) then the employee is going to get stung for tax on their first payment in the new job. If tax paid is increased, would this be like fraud?

An alternative would be to put the employee on emergency tax, but they'll still get hit for tax.

www.payback.ie
 
umop3p!sdn said:
With respect to the comments above about amending P45s, who is going to do this?
Don't know but the option is certainly there on the P45 form.
 
how to hide your previous PA salary which is 8K less then current new job? what should i do? pls advice!
 
You can't really hide it - your previous employer will send your P45 details to the tax office, who then issue a new tax cert to your new employer when he requests it. P2C data now also includes previous earnings & tax and these are sent directly from revenue to the new employer.
 
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