Step-by-step walkthrough

Register on the MyFutureFund employer portal

The portal at myfuturefund.ie/employer opened on 1 December 2025. Login uses your existing Revenue Online Service digital certificate. The full registration is three screens: T&Cs, company profile, Variable Direct Debit setup. Allow 30 minutes if your CRO details are to hand. Contributions became due from the first payroll run of 2026 regardless of whether you had registered - if you have not yet completed this step, you are accruing liability now under NAERSA assessment.

Last verified May 2026

  1. Sign in to the MyFutureFund employer portal

    Go to myfuturefund.ie/employer. Authentication is via your existing Revenue Online Service digital certificate. Use your ROS PREM cert if you administer payroll yourself; use your ROS agent certificate if you operate as a payroll bureau or accountancy firm acting on behalf of clients. There is no separate username and password to set up - the cert handles identity. The portal does not yet support direct integration via My Account or other Revenue identity layers.

  2. Complete the company profile

    Three sections to fill in: legal entity details (company name as registered with the Companies Registration Office, trading name if different, sector, employee-count band, registered address), contact person (first name, surname, phone, email, language preference for NAERSA correspondence), and any third-party agent authorisation if you are using an external bookkeeper. The portal accepts company data in plain text - it does not auto-fill from the CRO register, so confirm spelling matches your statutory filings.

  3. Set up the Variable Direct Debit

    NAERSA collects employer contributions automatically by Variable Direct Debit. Two routes: digital mandate (enter IBAN and BIC in the portal, sign electronically, mandate is active immediately) or paper SEPA mandate posted to NAERSA. Most employers use the digital route. Once active, NAERSA pulls each pay period's employer contribution after your payroll software has processed the corresponding Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notification. There is no manual remittance step - if your payroll software submits the contribution data, the direct debit fires.

  4. Notify your eligible employees in writing

    NAERSA does not write to employees on your behalf at the point of enrolment. Statutory employee notification rests with you - send a written notice (email is acceptable) before the first deduction appears on the payslip. Cover: that the deduction is starting, the contribution rate that applies (1.5% in year one), the EUR 80,000 earnings cap, the opt-out window in months seven and eight after enrolment, and a link to the My Future Fund employee portal where they will manage their own pot. Retain a copy in the employee record - the Pensions Authority can request evidence in an enforcement check.

  5. Confirm your payroll software is configured to retrieve AEPNs

    Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notifications come from NAERSA, not Revenue. They are a separate API channel from your existing Revenue Payroll Notifications. In BrightPay, Thesaurus Payroll Manager, Collsoft, Big Red Book Payroll, and Sage Payroll Ireland the AEPN retrieval step runs after the Revenue Payroll Notification step in each pay run. Open your software's 2026 release notes to confirm the feature is on, then run a test pay period in a copy of your data to verify contribution calculations match the rate schedule.

What you need before you start

  • A working Revenue Online Service digital certificate - PREM for direct administration, agent cert for bureaux.
  • Your CRO-registered legal entity name and registration number, plus trading name if different.
  • Registered office address as filed at the CRO.
  • Approximate employee count band. NAERSA does not require an exact figure at registration.
  • Sector classification. Free-text field - use your usual NACE code description.
  • Bank IBAN and BIC for the Variable Direct Debit mandate.
  • A nominated contact person with phone and email. NAERSA correspondence and enforcement notices go here.

Common mistakes

  • Registering, then forgetting the AEPN retrieval step. Registration alone does not deduct contributions. Your payroll software has to retrieve Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notifications each pay period and act on them.
  • Setting up the direct debit without testing a pay period. Run a parallel payroll for one period before going live to confirm the contribution amounts on the submission match what the rate schedule says they should be.
  • Assuming an existing pension scheme exempts every employee. Section 52 Regulations 2025 set hard thresholds - employer contribution at least 1.5% of gross or EUR 1,200 a year, and combined contribution at least 3.5% of gross or EUR 2,800 a year. Schemes below either threshold do not exempt the employee, regardless of historical provision.
  • Using the portal contact person field as a generic info@ inbox. Pensions Authority enforcement notices and time-bound NAERSA correspondence go to that address. A human responsible for payroll compliance should be named.

Where to go next

MyFutureFund employer registration - frequently asked questions

Practical answers for first-time employer registrations.

What is the deadline to register?
The MyFutureFund employer portal opened on 1 December 2025. Minister Calleary urged employers to register by 31 December 2025 - that is an operational deadline, not a statutory one. The statutory exposure is different: contributions became due from the first payroll run of 2026, registered or not. Employers who delayed registration past 1 January 2026 are accruing liability for missed Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notifications until they catch up. There is no transitional grace period.
I have no eligible employees - do I still need to register?
No. If every employee is in a qualifying occupational pension scheme that meets the Section 52 Regulations 2025 thresholds (minimum employer 1.5% of gross or EUR 1,200 a year, and combined contribution 3.5% of gross or EUR 2,800 a year), or if all employees are outside the eligible age and earnings band, you do not need to register. NAERSA centrally identifies eligible employees - if no one in your payroll triggers an Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notification, you have no remittance obligation. That said, if you employ anyone at all, the safer posture is to register and let NAERSA confirm zero exposure rather than rely on your own assessment.
Do I as the employer flag eligible employees, or does NAERSA?
NAERSA flags them. The authority assesses eligibility centrally using Revenue payroll data - age 23 to 60, gross earnings over EUR 20,000 across all employments on a rolling 13-week basis, and no active occupational pension or Personal Retirement Savings Account contribution. When an employee meets the criteria, NAERSA issues an Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notification to your payroll software for that employee. Your job is not to identify the eligible population; it is to act on each Auto-Enrolment Payroll Notification when it arrives.
What if I run payroll for clients - do I register each one separately?
Yes. Each employer registers separately, but a payroll bureau or accountancy firm operating as a Revenue Online Service agent can register and operate the portal on the client's behalf. The agent uses their existing ROS agent certificate. The client remains the legal employer and bears the contribution liability; the agent handles the operational steps. Confirm with each client which contact email NAERSA correspondence should go to - the portal can route to the agent or the client.
What is the penalty for not registering at all?
Section 132 of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 makes contribution offences and obstruction offences (sections 122, 123, 128, 131) prosecutable. On summary conviction the penalty is a Class A fine of up to EUR 5,000, or up to six months imprisonment, or both. On indictment the penalty rises to a fine of up to EUR 50,000, or up to three years imprisonment, or both. Directors and officers are personally liable where they consented to or connived in the offence. The Pensions Authority enforces; civil proceedings to recover unpaid contributions plus interest run in parallel.
Can I opt my whole company out?
No. There is no employer-level opt-out mechanism. Only individual employees can opt out, and only during the fixed opt-out window in months seven and eight after their personal enrolment date. Auto-re-enrolment then triggers every two years. Employers who attempt to discourage opt-in (by using opt-out status in employment decisions, offering inducements to opt out, or otherwise interfering) face Pensions Authority enforcement under section 128 of the Act.
Where do I get help with the portal itself?
NAERSA publishes the official employer guidance at gov.ie - search for "Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings System for Employers" (Department of Social Protection, last updated 14 January 2026). The companion plain-English explainer is "Auto-Enrolment: your questions answered". For software-specific issues (AEPN retrieval, contribution calculations, re-enrolment cycles) go directly to your payroll vendor's 2026 documentation. Vendors.ie maintains a verified list of payroll software with confirmed AEPN support.