Moving to Ireland: residence, your first year's tax and what to set up

You are Irish resident after 183 days in a year, or 280 over two. Split-year treatment and full credits keep the first year's tax low if you register properly.

How much Irish tax you pay depends on whether you are resident here, where your income comes from and where you do the work. Employment duties carried out in Ireland are taxed here through PAYE, whatever your residence and wherever your employer is based.

Are you resident?

The Irish tax year is the calendar year. You are resident for a year if you are in Ireland for:

• 183 days or more in that year, or
• 280 days or more over that year and the year before together

You are never resident in a year in which you spend 30 days or fewer here. Any part of a day counts as a day. Someone arriving on 1 July 2026 is here for 184 days in 2026, so is resident. Someone arriving on 15 August is here for 139, so is not resident for 2026 under the day count. If you arrive intending to stay, you can choose to be treated as resident in your year of arrival by telling Revenue in writing. That gives you full tax credits, but you are then taxed on your worldwide income for the year.

Split-year treatment

You may be resident in your year of arrival, not resident the year before, and resident the year after. If so, you can claim split-year treatment for employment income. Pay you earned abroad before you arrived is ignored for Irish tax, and your Irish pay generally gets full tax credits for the year. You claim through MyEnquiries in myAccount or on your tax return. For a single person who earns €30,000 in Ireland from July 2026:

Before your first pay day

1. Apply for a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). Your employer needs it to get your tax details from Revenue.
2. Register for myAccount, then register your new job there.
3. Claim the credits you are due, such as the rent credit if you rent. See myAccount and ROS.

Without these, your employer must deduct emergency tax. It is refunded once you are registered, but can take a large bite out of your first few pay packets.

Other things to know

• If your spouse or civil partner stays abroad, you are usually taxed as a single person. If they live abroad with no income there, you can be taxed as a married couple.
• If you keep paying into a pension scheme from your old country, you may get relief here under Migrant Members Relief.
• If you have income from your old country, a double taxation agreement usually gives credit for tax paid there. Ireland has one with the UK and many other countries.
• Moving with your employer and earning at least €125,000 basic salary? See the Special Assignee Relief Programme.
• If you are not Irish domiciled, some foreign income may be taxed on the remittance basis (only when you bring it into Ireland).

Work it out

• Take-home pay →
• Emergency tax refund →
• UK vs Ireland salary →
• SARP relief →

Sources

• Revenue: Tax rates, bands and reliefs (checked 25/10/2026)
• Revenue: Emergency Tax rules (checked 25/10/2026)
• Revenue: SARP: what are the conditions to qualify? (checked 16/10/2026)

General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.