‘Week 53’ occurs when there is an extra pay day in the year. This happens when a pay day falls on 31 December or on 30/31 December in a leap year. These extra pay days apply to employees (including pensioners) who are paid on a weekly, fortnightly or 4-weekly basis. It does not affect monthly-paid employees.
You should continue to process payroll normally by retrieving the latest Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN). The RPN will ensure that income tax is deducted on a week 1 basis for employees on the cumulative and period 1 basis. As a result, the employee will get the benefit of more than the year’s total tax credits and tax and USC cut-off points. Employees operating on the emergency basis will continue to apply the emergency basis. For more information on the tax bases, refer to this page: