Obtaining a PPS Number in Ireland

To register for tax here, you must first obtain a PPSN – standing for Personal Public Service Number. If you have just moved here and don’t already have one, you can apply for one through the Department of Social Welfare. Your PPS number is a unique reference that helps you access social welfare benefits, public services and information in Ireland. State agencies that use PPS Numbers to identify individuals include the Department of Social Protection, the Revenue Commissioners and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Income Tax in Ireland

Subject to certain exceptions and exemptions, income tax is chargeable on all income arising in the State to individuals, partnerships and unincorporated bodies.

The most common form of income tax is PAYE (Pay As You Earn), deducted by employers from pay and self-assessment, which applies to the self-employed and those with income from non-PAYE sources.

Beginning Work in Ireland & Tax

Within the Irish system, your employer is obliged to deduct tax from your pay under the PAYE system. To make sure that your tax is properly dealt and the correct amount is deducted you are required to give your employer your PPS number and you should also apply for a certificate of tax credits to send on to the tax office. If you haven’t submitted the relevant documentation, you may be charged ‘Emergency Tax Rates’ until you have done so. This is a higher tax rate but will be reimbursed.

Self Assessment Tax in Ireland

You may need to carry out ‘self assessment’ for paying tax if you are working for yourself or if you are generating income from a source not covered by the PAYE system, such as profits from rented properties, investment income, foreign income etc.

You must register for self-assessment tax online at revenue.ie by completing a TR1 form and can use your PPS number as your tax number. You must pay and file self assessment tax by  the 31st of October each year.

Register as an Employer

If you are employing other people, you will be required to register as an employer, and deduct and pay PAYE on their behalf. If you are only employing works on a contract or freelance basis, this is not necessarily the case however and they may submit their self-assessment tax. If you are employing people on a full time basis however, you can register as an employer using the PREM Tax Registration form which you will also find online.

Registering a New Company with the Tax Office

If you have started a company, it’s necessary to first let the CRO (Companies Registration Office) know. IN registering your business, or your name as a sole trader, they will send you out a CRO number. You can then use this number and your other details to complete and submit a TR2 form.

Starting a Business in Ireland

The Revenue offer a useful leaflet on starting your own business and tax which you can download here.

Links to further information on tax in Ireland >

Do you need document translation services when completing and submitting information to the Department of Social Welfare, HSE or the Revenue? Contact Instant Translation.

The Slavic or Slavonic languages are a group of closely related tongues of the Slavic people and a subgroup of Indo-European languages. Speakers are mostly in Eastern Europe, the Balkans as well as parts of Central Europe and North East Asia.

Even if you plan to hire an interpreter for a corporate event or for parts of a holiday, whether travelling to or from Poland, it can be nice to be able to at least say hello and introduce yourself. Below is a short video of how to do this. It looks at the differences between formal and informal situations for speaking Polish and when you need to address a man or a woman differently.

It only takes a few minutes and you may need to listen to it a few times but it’s well worth it. See if you can use it this weekend!

Of their most used tools is Google Maps and search engine/smart phone users are making use of this more and more frequently to find out everything from where a businesses is located to reading reviews and checking opening hours. It’s also a good way to let Google now where you are. The closer a smartphone user is to your location, the more likely you are to show up in the ‘Business results’ on a Google search and also on a maps search for services or products.

What’s more is it’s easy to do. And if you have more than one premises, nationally or internationally, you can set your location at each of these places. Do you have a collection point for products you ship abroad for customers? By utilising that address, you can put yourself on the map there too and help boost your international rankings.

How To Put Your Business on the Map in 2014

1. Firstly you’ll need a Google account or gmail address, if you haven’t got one already. You can sign up here.

2. Next, go to Google Places/Businesses here and sign in using your gmail address and password.

3. You’ll be taken to the page shown below. Read and agree to the terms and conditions to continue.

4.  Next, search for your business to see if it’s already listed.

5. If your business is not listed, click on ‘No, these are not my business’ to continue. If your business is listed, click into it to claim it and add to/edit information already there.

6. Add all of the details you are happy to display publicly, and submit.

7. You’ll then be told the address will need to be verified. Google do this by posting out a pin number you to activate your online business listing. This can take up to two weeks. In the mean time, you can still click through to edit the information that will be shown when the pin arrives and you can activate it.

8. Add your details. Make sure to describe your business clearly in the description section. Use language and terms that your potential customers understand and are likely to type when searching for a business like yours. You can also add photos and opening hours. Adding opening hours is incredibly important as it’s one of the top things people search for in relation to businesses! Especially shops and services that require a physical visit.

9. In one to two weeks when your pin arrives, log back in, using the same steps at the beginning. Your details will all be saved, but you can now use the ‘Verify’ option and pin to make your listing go live. It can take some time for Google to review and it begin to appear, but it’s worth it.

10. If you have other business locations, you can add these too, within the same Google account/gmail address, as long as you can verify each by receiving post at that address.

Top Tip: If you’re listing your business in non English speaking countries, make sure you have your description and business details translated professionally. If a web user is searching for a business in a hurry, they will be more inclined to click on one they can actually understand!

As a translation agency that always tries to be ahead of the curve, we’re excited to see what’s going on in the tech industry. Because it can only enhance our understanding of the web and better our translation service to you. At the end of the day, it’s all about communication.

The summit is an international gathering of the world’s technology experts and an excellent space for people who know a lot and people who just know a little about the internet and technology to come and expand their knowledge and give themselves a greater frame of reference for the technological aspects of their business.

It’s easy to assume this may just be an event for people working in the industry, but in reality, the topics that are spoken about affect so much of our lives and our businesses, that it really can contribute something to everyone – even a translation company. We always want to know the best ways to speak to your customers.

“It’s not just a gathering of the planet’s leading startups and technology companies, but of businesses, large and small, who are being impacted by new technologies. This year over 10,000 attendees will make the trip from all corners of the globe to hear from over 300 speakers across dozens of stages, workshops and roundtables catered to every sector.”

Another inspiring aspect of the event, is that speakers don’t just promote what they’re doing, or speak about how clever they are, they share mistakes learned along the way, little failures and obstacles that they had to overcome. For me, it’s those moments and realisations that often inspire me to just keep going!

Check out the video of the highlights from last year below and find out more on www.dublinwebsummit.net

Need an interpreter or translator for the event for you or for your clients? Contact us.

Or simply drop us a mail to find out more about how professional translation can help your online business expand globally.

Google Translate

Google translate is one automatic translation services online. It’s becoming an increasingly popular tool because it works quickly, smoothly – and because it’s owned and run by Google. People trust Google, so they trust their translation service. While we are big Google fans and can recognise the usefulness of this particular tool, we’d advise businesses not to rely on it. When a customer is stuck, it can provide some assistance. But it can’t help boost your international and multi-lingual SEO and it will make mistakes that a professional, human translator won’t.

Below are some examples of how online translators can vary, and the effect it can have on the message your hoping to convey.

Mistranslation Examples:

[Source: http://french.about.com/library/bl-onlinetranslators.htm]

If you’re working in an offline environment, such as a store where you meet customers face to face, some miscommunication can easily be cleared up, questioned, or even partially explained through body language and pointing. A smile, a uniform and good manners convey even more. But when you’re operating a business online, your words and language do a vast majority of the communication. So do your customers, your SEO and your service a favour by investing in certified translators. You’ll see the benefits and reap the rewards.

For some funny mistranslations from around the world, check out the blog a Russian Translator in Dublin.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation – meaning incorporating practices and methods into your online strategy that can help you rank better in relevant search results. Much of Google’s guidelines for SEO emphasise how important it is to have a great website and provide a great service that customers are happy with and return to. Manipulating your site purely to improve SEO can even result in penalties. But one thing is for certain, having an awareness of the words that your customers may use to try to find you and ensuring those terms are someone where on site can begin to SEO process is a healthy way.

Still not making sense to you? Think about it this way. If you want to look for a dry cleaners, near you, in a certain area of Dublin, let’s say Swords as an example,  how would you look for it? It’s pretty likely that if you decide to use a search engine, you’ll type in something like ‘Dry cleaners Swords’, or ‘Dry cleaners Swords, Dublin.’

Customers seeking out services or products that you provide will probably search in a similar way.

So in order for search engines to know that you are indeed a dry cleaners, located in Swords, Dublin, those words should exist somewhere on your site. If you sell an unusual or rare product, make sure to use the name of that product on your site.

So where does translation come into it all?

It’s going to be relatively easy to figure out what words and phrases you should be using within your website and blog posts in your native language – maybe even in a second language your fluent in. But are there other markets you’d ideally like to be targeting online who don’t speak either of these languages?

Localisation of your site can mean having multiple sites, or multiple versions of a site that each contain content professionally translated into local languages. You’ll be more likely to be incorporating phrases and terms that people whose native tongue that is actually use. ‘Broken’ versions of other languages could even damage your site’s rankings.

Launching a website may seem like you can suddenly sell your products to the whole world, but if customers can’t find you, they can’t buy. Ensure your site communicates with a broad customer base all over the world, and make sure Google.de, Google.ru and all of the other global Googles take your site and your business seriously by having it translated professionally.

Contact us for a professional translation consultation or quote for your business.