All employees will be better off when the Budget 2001 tax measures come into effect from April 2001. PAYE taxpayers can see the immediate impact of the Budget 2001 measures on their monthly take-home pay from these tables.

Choose the table which covers your marital status. If you are married take the column which describes your position.

Then take the gross annual income closest to yours in the first column and move across the table to see how your monthly take-home pay will change in the 2001 tax year.

The figures shown for private sector employees and for public sector employees are different because some older public sector workers pay lower PRSI.

The table takes account of the increases in personal allowances of £800 for single people to £5,500 and £1,600 to £11,000 for married couples. It includes the impact of the doubling of the PAYE allowance.

It also factors in the widening of the standard rate tax band by an annual £3,000 to £20,000 for single earners, by up to an annual £6,000 to £40,000 for married couples where both spouses are in employment and by £1,000 to £29,000 where one is employed.

It includes the impact of the two percentage point reductions in both the standard rate of tax to 20 per cent and in the top rate to 42 per cent. The effect on take-home pay of the increase in the PRSI ceiling for full rate employee contributors to £28,250 is included and the reduction in the contribution rate from 4.5 per cent to 4 per cent. The child benefit increases are not included in this table (see table page 7).

The combination of the Budget 2001 changes means a significant improvement in take-home pay for all employee taxpayers. The monthly take-home pay of a dual-income married couple paying PRSI at the full rate with a gross annual income of £40,000 will increase by £217 before any child benefit increases. A single-income couple on a similar income will gain £78 per month. This compares with an increase of £113 for a single person on a £40,000 income. Single persons on incomes of £20,000 will do well out of Budget 2001, benefiting most from the extension of the standard-rate band and the rate cut.

A single taxpayer on an income of £15,000 will gain £42 per month. A dual income married couple on a similar income will gain £63. Single income married couples will gain £33 when they are eligible for the full home-carer allowance and £52 when the homecarers' allowance does not apply.