Shares from work
RSUs when you move to or leave Ireland
Last updated 16 October 2026
Ireland taxes RSUs in full if they vest while you are Irish resident, and not at all if you've left. The vesting date decides, not where you earned them.
RSUs often take three or four years to vest, and people move country in between. Ireland's rule is simple, and different from many other countries: it looks only at where you are resident on the day the RSUs vest.
The Irish rule
- Irish resident when they vest: the whole value is taxable in Ireland, through payroll. There is no reduction for the part of the vesting period you spent working elsewhere.
- Not Irish resident when they vest: not taxable in Ireland. That holds even if you were resident here when they were granted and for most of the vesting period.
Revenue sets this out on its RSU page and in the Share Schemes Manual, chapter 2. Residence is decided by days: 183 days in the tax year, or 280 days over this year and last, with a year of 30 days or fewer never counting.
Moving to Ireland
RSUs granted by a previous employer or in a previous country, that vest after you have become Irish resident, are taxed in full here. Your Irish employer normally runs them through payroll. 100 RSUs vesting on 16 March 2026 at $150, with a euro at $1.08, are €13,888.89 of pay; for someone earning €85,000, payroll takes €7,250.00.
The country you left may also tax the part of the vesting period you worked there. Where Ireland has a tax treaty with that country, you can get a credit for the foreign tax against the Irish tax. Revenue will allow that credit through payroll during the year, if conditions are met, but you must still claim it formally on a tax return.
Leaving Ireland
RSUs that vest after you have stopped being Irish resident are outside Irish tax, though your new country may tax them. Watch the year you leave. You can be resident for the whole tax year on the day count. Split-year treatment for employment income in the year of departure has its own conditions. Ask Revenue how it applies to a vest in that year before you rely on it.
Working partly in Ireland for a foreign employer
Say you are resident but not domiciled here, work for a foreign employer, and do part of the job in Ireland. Revenue accepts that PAYE is operated on the share of the vest for your Irish workdays. A non-resident director of an Irish company is taxed on RSUs in full, subject to any treaty.
Selling later
Capital Gains Tax on a sale depends on your residence in the year you sell, not when the shares vested. If you have been resident for three years in a row you become ordinarily resident. That status continues for three tax years after you leave. Check your position before selling in the years after a move.
For the tax on a vest or a sale, use the shares from work calculator. For the general rules see RSU tax in Ireland.
Work it out
Sources
- Revenue: Share awards and RSUs (taxed through PAYE; no employer PRSI on share-settled awards) (checked 20/10/2026)
- Revenue: How to calculate CGT (checked 25/10/2026)
General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.