Change in PUP tax payments criticised

The Free Legal Aid Centres said the manner in which PUP claims will be taxed in 2021 may 'exacerbate stress and hardship' on those already facing the 2020 bill. Picture: Pexels

Plans to make employees who have received pandemic unemployment payments (PUP) settle their income tax liabilities throughout 2021 if they return to work in the coming weeks and months has been criticised by a legal aid body.

It has emerged that anyone who goes back to work in 2021 after receiving the PUP will have to pay income tax on it in real time, unlike the potential four-year stretch for settling up that people were allowed for income tax liabilities on the payment up to the end of 2020.