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Guides

Irish tax, explained plainly

Every figure checked against Revenue and linked to its source.

Self-assessment

Form 11 for 2025: due 31 October, or 18 November on ROSFile your 2025 return, pay the balance and pay 2026 preliminary tax by 31 October 2026. If you pay and file on ROS, it's 18 November 2026.
Preliminary tax: the lowest safe amountPay the lowest of 90% of this year's tax, 100% of last year's, or 105% of the year before (direct debit only) to avoid interest.
Filing late: the surchargeA late return adds 5% of the tax due (up to €12,695) within two months, or 10% (up to €63,485) after that. Late payment also adds interest.

Capital gains

Self-employed

The earned income credit for the self-employedSelf-employed people get a tax credit of 20% of earned income, up to the maximum. Combined with any employee credit, it can't exceed the employee credit.
PRSI for the self-employed: Class SSelf-employed income of €5,000 or more pays Class S PRSI, with a €650 minimum. Rates rise each 1 October, so self-assessment uses a blended rate.
Capital allowances (claiming a van, laptop or car over several years)Equipment and vehicles are claimed at 12.5% of cost a year over eight years. Low-emission cars are written off on €24,000 even if they cost less; others get half the cost, at most €12,000, or nothing. New bands from 2027.
USC for the self-employed, including the 3% surchargeUSC applies to all your income once it passes €13,000. Non-PAYE income over €100,000 pays an extra 3%.
Artists' Exemption: up to €50,000 a year free of income taxWriters, composers, painters and sculptors can earn up to €50,000 a year from qualifying work free of income tax. USC and PRSI still apply. How to qualify.
Tax clearance certificates: when you need one and how to get itPublic contracts of €10,000 or more, grants and many licences need tax clearance. Apply online in myAccount or ROS and get an access number in minutes.
Couriers and delivery drivers: employee or self-employed for tax?Revenue says most couriers working mainly for one firm, in its branding and under its control, are employees. How status is decided and how each is taxed.
Withholding tax on professional fees: the rules now, and the planned reformPublic bodies deduct 20% from fees for professional services. Budget 2027 confirms a move to personalised rates under a new electronic system, eWHT.
Self-employed tax in Ireland: what you pay and whenSole traders pay income tax, USC and Class S PRSI on their profit through Form 11. Preliminary tax for the next year is due the same day. A full example.
Self-employed expenses: what you can deduct from your profitCosts wholly for the business come off your profit before tax; private-use costs only in part. What counts, what never does, and what a deduction saves.
Tax on side income alongside a jobMoney from selling online, freelancing or content creation is taxable at your top rate. Under €5,000 of profit it goes on Form 12; above that, Form 11.
Contracting in Ireland: sole trader, umbrella or limited companyA contractor can work as a sole trader, through an umbrella company or through their own company. How each is taxed, and what decides your status.
Umbrella companies: what they cost and what you take homeAn umbrella company employs you and runs payroll for a fee, but employer's PRSI also comes out of your contract income. The full cost, against your own company.

Budget 2027

Records

How long to keep tax records: six years, and what countsRevenue requires records to be kept for six years, longer for late returns or open enquiries. Receipts, invoices and bank statements all count.

Pay

Take-home pay after Budget 2027What €40,000, €60,000 and €100,000 salaries take home in 2026 and 2027, worked out to the cent with the new bands, credits and USC.
Salary after tax in Ireland: what you keep, and whyA single employee on €50,000 keeps €39,648.57 in 2026 after income tax, USC and PRSI. How each deduction works, and what Budget 2027 changes.
Your payslip explained: PAYE, USC and PRSI line by lineWhat each line on an Irish payslip means and how your employer works out PAYE, USC and PRSI each pay day. How to check the figures are right.
PRSI explained: rates, the weekly credit and what it pays forEmployee PRSI is 4.2% until 30 September 2026 and 4.35% from 1 October, with nothing due on €352 a week or less. How it works and what it buys.
USC in 2026 and 2027: bands, exemptions and reduced ratesUSC is charged on all your income once it passes €13,000. On €50,000 it is €1,032.82 in 2026 and €1,016.82 in 2027.
Income tax bands and the standard rate cut-off pointThe 20% band is €44,000 for a single person in 2026 and €46,500 in 2027. How the bands work for singles, single parents and couples, with credits.
Marginal and effective tax rates: what each one tells youYour effective rate is all your tax as a share of pay; your marginal rate is the tax on your next euro. On €50,000 in 2026 they are very different.
Emergency tax: why it happens, how to stop it, and getting it backWith no Revenue Payroll Notification, your employer must tax you at up to 40% with no credits and 8% USC. How to fix it, and when the refund comes.
Your Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN): what's on it and how to change itA Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN) tells your employer your credits, 20% band, USC bands and basis. How to read it, fix it and move to cumulative.
How a bonus is taxed in IrelandA bonus is taxed as ordinary pay at your top rates. On a €60,000 salary, a €10,000 bonus leaves €5,280.00 in 2026.
Tax on overtime: how much of each extra hour you keepOvertime is taxed as normal pay, at your top rates. Above the 20% band you keep a little over half of each overtime euro in 2026.
Tax on a second job: splitting your credits and bandRevenue gives your credits and 20% band to your main job, so a second job is often taxed at 40%. How to split them in myAccount so you don't overpay.
Mileage allowance: the civil service rates and what is tax-freeYour employer can pay mileage for business journeys tax-free at up to the civil service rates. The rates, how the bands work, and what counts as business.
Comparing job offers: valuing the whole package, not the salaryA lower salary with a pension match and benefits can be worth more than a higher one. How each part of a package is taxed, with two offers compared.
Redundancy pay in Ireland: the amount set by law and the tax-free limitsRedundancy pay set by law is two weeks' pay a year plus one week, on pay up to €600 a week, and is tax-free. Extra payments get their own exemptions.
Foreign Earnings Deduction: tax relief for work trips to growth marketsEmployees resident in Ireland who work at least 30 days a year in certain countries can deduct part of their pay from income tax. Up to €50,000 from 2026.
Transborder Workers' Relief: living in Ireland, working across the borderLive in Ireland and commute to a job abroad where you pay tax? This relief can remove the Irish income tax on that salary. Who qualifies, and how.
PAYE Exclusion Orders: working abroad for an Irish employerIf you work abroad for an Irish employer and are non-resident, a PAYE Exclusion Order lets your employer stop deducting Irish income tax and USC.
Is a pay rise worth moving for? Rent, tax and what you keepA higher salary in a dearer county can leave you worse off. Compare what's left after tax and rent, using official average rents for 2026.
Agency and temporary work: how you are taxedAgency workers pay tax through PAYE like any employee: whoever pays you runs payroll. How to avoid emergency tax when assignments change.
A job, a business and rent: how tax works on combined incomeWith a salary plus self-employed or rental income, everything is taxed together. The extra pays tax at your top rate, and over €5,000 means Form 11.
Working for the United Nations while living in Ireland: what is taxedSalaries the United Nations and its specialised agencies pay serving officials are free of Irish income tax and USC. Their pensions are taxable.

Tax credits

Couples

Joint assessment, separate assessment or separate treatment?How married couples and civil partners can be taxed, what each option costs, the Home Carer Tax Credit, and the year you marry.

Refunds

Tax returns

Benefits

The Small Benefit Exemption: up to five tax-free gifts worth €1,500Your employer can give you up to five non-cash gifts or vouchers a year, worth €1,500 in all, tax-free. A benefit that goes over the limit is taxed in full.
Benefit in kind (perks from work): which are taxed, and howPerks from your employer are added to your pay and taxed with income tax, USC and PRSI, unless an exemption applies. What's taxed, what isn't, and company cars.
Tax on an electric company car in 2026 and 2027An electric company car gets €30,000 off its value for company car tax in 2026, falling to €15,000 in 2027. What that means for the tax you pay.
Tax on a company van: 8% of the value, and when it's tax-freeA company van you can use privately is taxed at 8% of its value after a €10,000 reduction in 2026. Many vans used for work aren't taxed at all.
Health insurance paid by your employer: the tax, and the relief to claimEmployer-paid health insurance is taxed as a benefit on the full premium. You can claim back 20% of up to €1,000 an adult and €500 a child in myAccount.
Accommodation from your employer: when it is taxed and how it's valuedFree or cheap housing from your employer is taxed on the market rent plus bills it pays, less what you pay. It's tax-free if the job needs you to live on site.
Cheap loans from your employer: how preferential loans are taxedA loan from your employer below 4% for a home, or 13.5% for anything else, is a taxable benefit. The benefit is the interest you didn't pay.
Tax-free travel passes: how the scheme works and what you saveA bus, rail, Luas or ferry pass bought by your employer, or through salary sacrifice, is tax-free. On a €1,500 pass that saves up to €783.83.
Work phones, laptops and broadband: when they're tax-freeA phone, laptop or internet connection your employer provides for work isn't taxed if private use is incidental and you don't own it. When that changes.
Staff meals, canteens and meal vouchers: what is taxed since October 2025Meals on your employer's premises, open to all staff, are tax-free. Meal vouchers are taxed at full face value since 1 October 2025, with no 19 cent deduction.
Employee shares: how ESPPs, RSUs and sell-to-cover are taxedA share purchase plan discount and RSUs at vesting are taxed as pay, with income tax, USC and PRSI. A later sale falls under Capital Gains Tax.

Family

Moving to Ireland

Housing

Buying your first home in 2026: deposit, Help to Buy and the mortgage rulesFirst-time buyers can borrow up to four times income with a 10% deposit. Help to Buy now refunds up to €35,000 of tax on a new home. How it adds up.

Everyday money

Motoring

Customs

Property

Companies

Pensions

Investing

Savings

Business

Start-up Relief for Entrepreneurs (SURE): getting back tax you paid as an employeeLeaving a job to start a company? Start-up relief (SURE) can refund income tax from the previous six years on money you put into new shares in it.
Corporation tax in Ireland: rates, payment dates and reliefsCompanies pay 12.5% on trading profit and 25% on rent and investment income. How preliminary tax works, and what Budget 2027 changes.
R&D tax credit: how it is worked out and paidCompanies get 35% of qualifying R&D spend back as a tax credit, paid over three years if it exceeds their tax. Budget 2027 makes it more generous.
Close company surcharge: the extra tax on profits kept in the companyOwner-managed companies pay a 20% surcharge on undistributed rent and investment income, and service companies 15% on half their trading income.
Salary or dividends: taking money out of your companyA salary is deductible for the company; a dividend is paid from profit already taxed at 12.5%, then taxed again as your income. When each makes sense.
Participation exemption: foreign dividends received by Irish companiesSince 2025 an Irish company can choose to exempt dividends from foreign subsidiaries it owns 5% or more of. The other way is to pay tax and claim a credit.
Section 626B: tax-free sales of shares in subsidiariesAn Irish company pays no tax on selling shares in a trading subsidiary in the EU or a treaty country. It must have held 5% or more for 12 months.
VAT in Ireland: rates, registration and returnsRegister once sales pass €42,500 for services or €85,000 for goods. Charge 23%, 13.5% or 9%, reclaim VAT on costs, file every two months.
The 9% VAT rate: restaurants, energy and apartmentsRestaurants, hot food and hairdressing pay 9% VAT from 1 July 2026; electricity, gas and new apartments do until 2030. Hotels stay at 13.5%.
E-invoicing in Ireland: the 2028 to 2030 timetableFrom November 2028 large companies must send structured e-invoices to Irish business customers, and every business must be able to receive them.
Inward processing: importing goods without paying duty and VAT up frontGoods brought in from outside the EU to be processed can be imported with customs duty and import VAT suspended, if Revenue authorises it. How it works.

Shares from work

Pay and benefits

Landlords

Tax on rental income in Ireland: a guide for landlordsRent is taxed at your top rate after allowable costs. Mortgage interest, wear and tear and Rental Income Relief of up to €1,000 for 2026 bring it down.
Rental Income Relief: up to €1,000 off your tax for 2026Landlords of residential property get a credit of 20% of rental profit, up to €800 for 2025 and €1,000 for 2026 and 2027.
Mortgage interest on a rental property: what you can claimLandlords can deduct 100% of the interest on a loan to buy, improve or repair a let home. The tenancy must be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.
Retrofitting a rental: the €10,000 deduction for landlordsLandlords can deduct up to €10,000 a home for grant-aided energy upgrades to 2028, on up to three homes from 2026. Claim it in the year of the work.
Renting out property abroad: Irish tax on foreign rentIrish residents pay Irish tax on rent from property abroad, with a credit for foreign tax where there's a tax treaty. Foreign losses stay with foreign rents.
Is your rental paying its way? Yield, interest cover and stress testsThree numbers tell a landlord most of what matters: yield after costs, interest cover and loan-to-value. How to work them out and stress-test them.

Gifts and inheritances

Farming

Mortgages

Budget 2026

Budget 2026: what changed for 2026Budget 2026 left tax bands and credits unchanged and widened the 2% USC band to €28,700. It extended the rent credit and cut VAT on apartments and catering.