The Remittance Basis in Ireland: How Foreign Income Is Taxed If You're Not Irish-Domiciled

Who gets the remittance basis?

In short: you need to be Irish tax resident and not domiciled in Ireland, and it's on you to satisfy Revenue that you're not domiciled. Most people who moved here as adults keep the domicile of the country they grew up in. Citizenship doesn't decide it: domicile is about where your permanent home is.

• Resident: you're Irish resident for a tax year if you spend 183 days here in that year, or 280 days across that year and the one before, provided you spend more than 30 days here in each. Our tax residency guide covers the tests and the Tax Residence Check applies them to your dates.
• Not domiciled: you're born with a domicile of origin, usually your father's, and keep it unless there's clear evidence you've settled somewhere else for good and don't intend to go back, per Revenue's domicile page. Moving here or getting an Irish passport doesn't by itself change it.
• Domicile can change over decades. If you've lived here for years, bought a home, raised a family and have no plan to return, you may have acquired an Irish domicile of choice. Take advice before relying on the remittance basis in that case.
• Irish citizens are not excluded by citizenship. Since 2010 the remittance basis no longer applies to Irish citizens simply because they aren't ordinarily resident (Finance Act 2010, s.9). What matters now is domicile, per Revenue's manual.
• Plenty of people are in this position. Revenue told the Dáil that 53,900 Form 11 returns for 2021 indicated that the taxpayer was not domiciled in Ireland (parliamentary question, May 2024).

Which income does it cover, and which not?

In short: it covers foreign investment income (rent from a property abroad, interest on foreign bank accounts, foreign dividends), salary from a foreign employment for work done outside Ireland, and gains on assets outside Ireland. It never covers income from Irish sources or salary for work you do in Ireland, which is taxed in full through PAYE.

• Covered: foreign rent, interest and dividends. Rent from your flat back home, interest on a savings account abroad and dividends from foreign shares are taxed only on what you bring in. What you do bring in is taxed at the rates in our guide to foreign dividends and interest. Remitted rent is taxed in full with no deduction for expenses (Revenue).
• Covered: foreign salary for work done abroad. If you work for a foreign employer and some duties are performed outside Ireland, pay for those days falls under the remittance basis. Pay for days you work in Ireland has been taxed under PAYE in full since 2006, whoever employs you.
• Covered: gains on foreign assets. Selling shares, crypto held abroad or a property outside Ireland creates a gain that's charged to Irish CGT only to the extent the gain is received in Ireland, under section 29(4).
• Covered: UK income and gains. UK income has been inside the remittance basis since 1 January 2008, and UK gains since 20 November 2008, per Revenue's UK manual. Before that, UK income was always taxed as it arose.
• Not covered: anything Irish. Irish salary, Irish rent, interest on an Irish bank account and gains on Irish assets are taxed in full whatever your domicile.
• No stacking with FED. The Foreign Earnings Deduction can't be claimed on income already relieved by the remittance basis, split-year treatment or SARP. See our SARP guide for the separate relief on assignees' salaries.

What counts as bringing money into Ireland?

In short: any transfer to an Irish account counts, but so does money or value received in Ireland in other ways: paying Irish bills from the foreign account, repaying a loan you brought into Ireland out of foreign income, or giving foreign income to your spouse who then brings it in. Revenue looks at the substance, not just the bank transfer.

• Transfers to Ireland: a wire, online transfer or cheque from your foreign account into an Irish account is a remittance in the year the money arrives. The amount taxed is what's received here, converted to euro.
• Money or value, not only cash: section 71(3) taxes "money or value" received in Ireland. Using foreign income abroad to pay an Irish bill, or bringing in property bought with that income, can be treated as a remittance.
• Foreign loans repaid from foreign income: borrowing abroad, bringing the loan into Ireland and then repaying it from foreign income is caught by section 72 TCA 1997: the income used for the repayment is treated as remitted.
• Transfers to your spouse or civil partner: since 13 February 2013, if you give foreign income to your spouse or civil partner and it's later brought into Ireland, you're treated as having remitted it yourself (Finance Act 2013, s.6).
• Income spent abroad stays outside. Rent you spend on holidays abroad, or reinvest in the same foreign account, isn't remitted. Keeping it abroad doesn't change its nature, though: if it arrives in Ireland years later, it's still income.

Why do separate accounts matter so much?

In short: savings you had before you became Irish resident are capital, and capital brought into Ireland isn't taxed as income. But if an account holds both capital and later income, Revenue treats transfers as coming from income first. One mixed account can turn tax-free savings into a taxable remittance.

• Income first from mixed funds: Revenue's manual applies the rule that remittances from a fund holding income and capital "are treated as first coming out of the income part of the fund". You can't choose to bring in the savings part first.
• The pre-arrival cut-off is 1 January, not your arrival date. By long-standing Revenue practice, income built up before 1 January of the year you became Irish resident isn't taxed if you bring it in later. Income from earlier in your arrival year isn't covered by that practice.
• The practical fix: before you become resident, keep three accounts abroad: one for savings held before 1 January of your first resident year, one for income that comes in after, and one for proceeds of assets you sell. Bring money in only from the first.
• Income stays income. Interest or rent that's left in an account, invested in shares or spent on a car abroad doesn't become capital. If those assets are sold and the cash comes to Ireland, Revenue can trace it back to income.

Worked example: the same €12,000, two outcomes

In short: you bring €12,000 from Spain into Ireland in 2026. From an account holding only savings from before you became resident, the Irish tax is €0. From one account mixing those savings with €9,000 of 2026 rent, the first €9,000 is income and the income tax is €3,600 at 40%, before any credit for Spanish tax.

Starting data (assumptions): you moved from Spain in March 2023 and have been Irish resident every year since; you're single and not Irish-domiciled; your Irish salary is €70,000, above the €44,000 standard rate cut-off for a single person, so extra income is taxed at 40%; €30,000 of savings were in your Spanish account by 31 December 2022; your flat in Valencia paid €9,000 of rent in 2026 (in euro), and earlier years' rent was spent in Spain; in 2026 you transfer €12,000 to your Irish account for a house deposit. Income tax only: USC can also apply to income taxable here.

In Option B the €9,000 of remitted rent is above the €5,000 limit for declaring other income through myAccount, so you'd file a Form 11 for 2026. Spain can also tax rent from a Spanish property; under the Ireland–Spain treaty, Spanish tax paid on that rent can be credited against the Irish tax on it. Our foreign rental income guide shows how the credit works.

How are foreign gains taxed under the remittance basis?

In short: a gain on an asset outside Ireland is charged to Irish CGT only when the gain is received in Ireland. The flip side: a loss on a foreign asset isn't allowable at all, so you can't set it against Irish gains. Budget 2027 cut the CGT rate from 33% to 31% for disposals from 7 October 2026.

• Sell abroad, keep the money abroad: if you sell shares held with a foreign broker and the proceeds stay in a foreign account, there's no Irish CGT on the gain unless and until the gain is brought into Ireland, per section 29(4) TCA 1997.
• Bring it in later and it's taxed then: gains that are paid, used or enjoyed in Ireland, or otherwise brought in, count as received here (section 29(5)). Keep the sale proceeds in their own account so you can show what came in.
• Foreign losses don't count: for someone on the remittance basis, losses on assets outside Ireland are not allowable losses. A €5,000 loss on foreign shares can't reduce the CGT on a €5,000 gain on Irish shares.
• Irish assets are taxed in full. Gains on Irish shares, an Irish property or anything held through an Irish account are charged as they arise, at 31% after the €1,270 annual exemption. Our CGT guide covers rates and payment dates.

How do you claim it: what Revenue asks

In short: there's no separate application. You declare on your tax return that you're not domiciled in Ireland and report the foreign income and gains you brought in during the year. Above €5,000 of taxable non-PAYE income, or €30,000 gross, that return is Form 11; below both, a PAYE worker can use Form 12 in myAccount.

• Which return: a PAYE worker with taxable non-PAYE income of €5,000 or less and gross non-PAYE income of €30,000 or less can declare it on Form 12 (Revenue). Above either limit you're a chargeable person and file Form 11. See our Form 12 and Form 11 guides.
• Report what came in, in the year it came in: Revenue told the Dáil that people on the remittance basis must return foreign income or gains brought into the State on the self-assessment return for the year of the remittance (PQ).
• Evidence to keep: statements for each foreign account showing balances on 31 December before your first resident year, every transfer to Ireland with date and amount, and the source of each transfer (savings, income or sale proceeds).
• Domicile evidence: where you were born and grew up, where your family home is, and your plans to return. If Revenue asks, the burden is on you to show you're not Irish-domiciled.
• Four years to correct: Revenue can generally go back four years, and you have four years to claim a refund. A remittance you forgot to declare is better corrected now than found in a review.

Where do you start?

Before anything else, check whether you're resident for each year since you arrived, and look at how your foreign accounts are set up. If savings and income share one account, separate them now: it won't fix past transfers, but it protects everything you bring in from today.

Related reading

• Irish tax residency: day count, domicile and split-year treatment
• Foreign rental income: rent from a house abroad
• SARP: the Special Assignee Relief Programme
• Capital gains tax in Ireland
• Ireland's double tax treaties: the full list
• Form 11 in Ireland

Questions we get asked