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A job, a business and rent: how tax works on combined income
Last updated 16 October 2026
With 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.
Ireland taxes a person on their total income for the year, not on each source separately. Say you have a job and also a side business or a rental property. All of it shares one set of tax credits and one 20% band. In practice that means your salary usually uses up the cheap part, and the extra income is taxed at your top rate.
How each source is treated
- Salary: taxed through PAYE, with your credits and rate band applied by your employer, and Class A PRSI.
- Self-employed profit: income tax and USC, Class S PRSI, and the earned income credit; combined with the employee credit the two can't exceed €2,000.
- Rental profit: income tax, USC and PRSI, after allowable expenses.
An example
A single person earning €45,000 from a job, with a €12,000 profit from a side business and €8,000 of rental profit, in 2026:
| Income tax, USC and PRSI on the salary alone | €7,989.79 |
| Total on all €65,000 | €17,437.29 |
| Extra tax on the other income | €9,447.50 |
About 47% of the extra €20,000 goes in tax. That is close to the marginal rate, because the salary has already used the 20% band.
Which return, and when
- You must register for self-assessment if your taxable non-PAYE income is more than €5,000, or the gross amount (before costs) is more than €30,000. You then file Form 11 by 31 October the following year, paying any balance and preliminary tax then.
- Below those limits you can usually declare it on Form 12, and Revenue collects the tax by reducing your credits through payroll.
See Form 11 or Form 12 and self-assessment. Once you are paying tax on extra income yourself, plan for preliminary tax too.
Things that reduce the bill
- business expenses and capital allowances (the cost of equipment written off over several years) against self-employed profit
- allowable rental expenses, such as repairs, insurance and mortgage interest within the rules
- pension contributions, which are relieved at your top rate of income tax
Work it out
Sources
- Revenue: Tax rates, bands and reliefs (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: Standard rates and thresholds of USC (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: Earned Income Credit (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: Who should register for Income Tax self-assessment? (€5,000 net or €30,000 gross non-PAYE income) (checked 24/10/2026)
- Department of Social Protection: PRSI Class S Rates (checked 16/10/2026)
General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.