Married couples
Joint, separate or single assessment?
Joint assessment usually saves most when one spouse earns much more than the other.
Married couples and civil partners choose how they're taxed:
- Joint assessment: your incomes are added together, and you share the credits and the 20% band. One of you is the assessable spouse (the one taxed on both incomes). Revenue uses this unless you ask for another.
- Separate assessment: the same total tax as joint, but each spouse pays their own share.
- Single assessment: each of you is taxed as a single person, with nothing shared.
| Taxed as two single people | €15,200.00 |
| Taxed jointly | €13,400.00 |
| Saving from joint assessment | €1,800.00 |
If you both earn about the same, and both earn above the band, joint assessment saves little or nothing. It rarely costs more.
Work it out
Terms: Joint assessment
All topics for couples · General information, not tax advice.