Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 472A

Relief for the long-term unemployed

Section 472A provides income deductions for long-term unemployed individuals who take up qualifying employment, a scheme known as Revenue Job Assist, which ceased to apply to employments commencing on or after 1 July 2013.

• A qualifying individual is one who was continuously unemployed for at least 12 months immediately before commencing a qualifying employment and was in receipt of unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, or one-parent family payment for a continuous period of not less than 312 days, or who was signing on for credited PRSI contributions for the required period.
• A qualifying employment is a PAYE employment of at least 30 hours per week, capable of lasting at least 12 months, that does not replace an unfairly dismissed worker, is not with an employer who has made redundancies in the previous 26 weeks, and is not predominantly commission-based (over 75%).
• The deduction is made from total income attributable to emoluments from the qualifying employment over three consecutive years of assessment: €3,810 in year one, €2,540 in year two, and €1,270 in year three, with additional child deductions of €1,270, €850, and €425 per qualifying child in each of those years respectively.
• If the qualifying employment ceases within the three-year period, unused deductions may be carried forward and set against emoluments from one further qualifying employment only, subject to the annual deduction limits.