🇳🇬 Is There an Ireland–Nigeria Double Tax Treaty? No — Here's What Happens Instead

Is there a double tax treaty between Ireland and Nigeria?

In short: no. Ireland has signed double taxation agreements with 78 countries, 75 in effect, and Nigeria is on neither Revenue's treaty list nor its dates of effect table. Pages describing an Ireland–Nigeria treaty, or quoting treaty rates, are wrong.

• In effect in Africa: South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Zambia, Botswana and Ethiopia. For these, a treaty decides which country taxes what and how credit is given.
• Signed, not yet in effect: Kenya (23 July 2021) and Ghana (7 February 2018). Until they come into force, people from those countries are in the same no-treaty position as Nigerians.
• No treaty: Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each country taxes under its own law, with no tie-breaker for someone both treat as resident and no guaranteed credit.

What does Ireland tax if you live here?

In short: if you're Irish resident (183 days in a tax year, or 280 over two years with more than 30 in the current one), Irish employment income is always taxed here. Foreign income is taxed in full if you're Irish-domiciled, or only to the extent you bring it into Ireland if you're not, which Revenue calls the remittance basis. Check your status with our tax residence check.

• Your Irish salary is always Irish. Revenue's manual on the remittance basis confirms it doesn't cover employment duties performed in Ireland, so PAYE applies whatever your domicile.
• Irish-domiciled: worldwide income. Nigerian rent, interest or pension is taxable here as it arises, at 20% or 40% plus USC.
• Not Irish-domiciled: remittance basis. Under section 71 TCA 1997, foreign income is taxed only to the extent you bring it into Ireland, as money or value, however it arrives. Source: Revenue.
• Domicile isn't residence. You keep your domicile of origin unless there's clear evidence you intend to live permanently in a new country and not return to your country of origin. Most people who moved here from Nigeria start as non-domiciled. Source: Revenue.
• Savings from before you arrived. Money built up from foreign income earned before 1 January of the year you became resident isn't taxed, by Revenue practice, when brought in later. Keep it separate: Revenue treats transfers from a mixed account as income first. Source: Revenue manual 05-01-21A.

Do you pay tax in Nigeria if you live in Ireland?

In short: under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, Nigerian residents are taxed on worldwide income and non-residents only on Nigerian-source income, such as rent from a Nigerian property. The Presidential tax reform committee says family remittances aren't income and non-residents' foreign income isn't taxed. Whether a new family-ties test makes you resident is a question for a Nigerian adviser.

Position at 22 October 2026:

• New law from 1 January 2026. The Nigeria Tax Act and the Nigeria Tax Administration Act took full effect on that date (Forvis Mazars Nigeria), and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is now the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) (PwC Nigeria).
• Six ways to be resident. Domiciled in Nigeria, a permanent place available to you, a habitual abode, 183 days in 12 months, diplomatic service, or a new ties test. Residents are taxed on worldwide income. Sources: KPMG, AELEX via Mondaq.
• The ties test is reported two ways. KPMG and AELEX quote "substantial economic and immediate family ties"; PwC's summary says "substantial economic ties or immediate family ties". "Or" would catch far more people. Official guidance on its meaning is still awaited. Sources: KPMG, PwC tax summaries.
• What the reform committee said. An October 2025 FAQ from the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, then chaired by Taiwo Oyedele, now Minister of Finance, says family remittances and gifts aren't income, and that diaspora Nigerians who are not Nigerian-resident (framed around 183 days) aren't taxed on foreign income. It's committee guidance, not a tax authority ruling. Sources: Channels TV, Nairametrics.
• The gap. That reassurance covers non-residents only. If your spouse, children or a house are still in Nigeria, the ties test could make you Nigerian-resident and taxable on worldwide income, and with no treaty nothing breaks the tie. Settle it with a Nigerian adviser.

How is double tax relieved without a treaty?

In short: under each country's own law. For rent from a no-treaty country, Revenue lets you deduct the foreign tax from the rent before Irish tax is worked out, which isn't a euro-for-euro credit. On the remittance basis no deductions are allowed. Sources: Revenue on foreign rental income and double taxation and the remittance basis.

• Deduction, not credit. In Revenue's example, €10,000 of foreign rent with €2,000 of foreign tax leaves €8,000 taxable. At 40%, the deduction saves €800 of Irish tax, not €2,000. Source: Revenue.
• Unilateral relief won't help you. Schedule 24, paragraphs 9A–9H, TCA 1997 gives credit without a treaty mainly to companies (foreign dividends, branch profits, interest, royalties, leasing). Its capital gains credit applies only to a short list of named countries, and Nigeria isn't on it, so Nigerian tax on a property sale isn't credited against Irish CGT. Sources: Revenue, relief, Schedule 24 para 9FB, inserted by Finance Act 2007 s.36.

How are salary, rent, property and pensions from Nigeria taxed?

In short: your Irish salary is taxed in Ireland, and in Nigeria only if Nigeria treats you as resident. Nigerian rent and gains are Irish-taxable in full if you're Irish-domiciled, or when brought in if you're not, and Nigeria can tax them too as Nigerian-source income. Irish CGT is 31% from 7 October 2026.

• Salary in Ireland: ordinary PAYE. €2,000 personal and €2,000 employee credits, a €44,000 band if single. Nigeria taxes it only if you're Nigerian-resident (see above).
• Rent from a house in Lagos. Taxed under the same rules as Irish rent: net of allowable expenses, at 20% or 40% plus USC, on Form 12 or Form 11. Non-domiciled? Only what you bring in. See rental income tax in Ireland.
• Selling property in Nigeria. Irish resident or ordinarily resident and domiciled: the gain is within Irish CGT at 31% for disposals from 7 October 2026 (33% before). Ordinary residence can keep you in the charge for up to three years after you leave. Non-domiciled: taxed only to the extent received in Ireland, with no relief for losses on foreign assets. Source: Revenue manual 02-03-01.
• Nigerian pension or interest on savings. Taxable here as it arises if you're Irish-domiciled, and only when brought in if you're not. For a Retirement Savings Account, our Nigerian pension (RSA) guide explains when PenCom lets you draw on it and how Revenue is likely to tax the payout. See moving to Ireland: cross-border taxes.

Is money you send home to Nigeria taxable?

In short: not in Ireland. It comes from income already taxed here, and it isn't deductible either. The related Irish reliefs are the €305 Dependent Relative Tax Credit for 2026 and, if your spouse lives in Nigeria with little or no income, the married credit and band (see spouse living abroad). In Nigeria, the Presidential tax reform committee's FAQ says family remittances aren't income.

• For Irish tax, a remittance is money coming in. Revenue defines it as funds sent to Ireland from abroad, so money leaving for Lagos neither triggers nor reduces Irish tax. Source: Revenue.
• Dependent Relative Tax Credit: €305 for 2026. For your or your spouse's widowed parent, or a relative who can't maintain themselves through old age or infirmity, with income of €18,548 or less. They don't have to live in Ireland. See the Dependent Relative Tax Credit and Revenue. Convert their naira income to euro at a published rate for the year and keep a note of the rate you used.

Worked example: a Dublin nurse with a flat in Lagos

In short: a single nurse with €42,000 of taxable pay with €3,000 of Lagos rent pays €589 of extra Irish tax on it if she's Irish-domiciled. If she isn't domiciled here and brings €1,000 of the rent into Ireland, she pays €230; if she brings in nothing, nothing.

Can you still claim an Irish tax refund?

In short: yes. Most refunds come from emergency tax, unclaimed credits and flat rate expenses. In 2026 you can claim 2022 to 2025, and 2022 closes on 31 December 2026.

• Emergency tax. With a PPSN but no Revenue Payroll Notification, you get no tax credits: for the first four weeks, 20% up to the single person's weekly rate band and 40% above it, then 40% on everything from week 5. Without a PPSN, 40% from the first payslip. Emergency USC is a flat 8% in 2026. See emergency tax in Ireland.
• Everything else. Uniform allowances, second jobs taxed at 40% and the Rent Tax Credit are covered in tax refunds for Nigerian workers in Ireland.

What Revenue actually asks for

In short: declare Nigerian income on your Irish return for the year: Form 12 if your net non-PAYE income is under €5,000 and your gross non-PAYE income is under €30,000; otherwise Form 11. Keep records of rent, expenses, Nigerian tax and, on the remittance basis, what you brought in.

1. Sign in to myAccount and, under PAYE Services, choose 'Review your tax for the previous 4 years'.
2. Request a Statement of Liability for the year, then click 'Complete Income Tax Return' (your Form 12).
3. Declare the foreign income: the net figure if you're Irish-domiciled, or the amount brought into Ireland if you're on the remittance basis.
4. Claim your credits on the same return, including the Dependent Relative Tax Credit under 'You and your family'.
5. Keep the evidence: tenancy agreement, invoices, proof of Nigerian tax, and bank statements showing transfers.

Where do you start?

Settle your residence for each year, then your domicile: those two answers decide everything else. If you have Nigerian rent you've never declared, declare every year it was taxable here (every year it arose if you're Irish-domiciled, every year you brought it into Ireland if you're not). Making a qualifying disclosure before Revenue notifies you of an audit or starts an investigation keeps penalties lower. If you're also owed a refund, 2022 closes on 31 December 2026.

Related reading

• Tax refunds for Nigerian workers in Ireland
• Your Nigerian pension (RSA) from Ireland
• Rental income tax in Ireland
• The Dependent Relative Tax Credit
• Moving to Ireland: how cross-border taxes work
• Spouse living abroad: how you're taxed in Ireland
• Ireland's double tax treaties: the full country list
• Tax guides by nationality

Questions we get asked