SARP in Ireland: The Special Assignee Relief Programme Explained

What is SARP?

• The threshold does two jobs. It's the minimum base salary you need to qualify, and it's the amount your income must exceed before any of it is relieved. A 2026 arrival on exactly €125,000 qualifies but gets no relief. Source: Revenue Tax and Duty Manual 34-00-10, paragraphs 7 and 8.
• The relief stops at €1,000,000 of income. Pay above €1,000,000 is taxed normally. For a 2026 arrival that caps the exempt amount at (€1,000,000 − €125,000) × 30% = €262,500, which saves €105,000 at the 40% rate, as in Revenue's own example 6 in the SARP manual.
• It lasts five consecutive years at most. The clock starts in the first year you're entitled, so a January 2026 arrival can claim for 2026 to 2030. If your employer certifies you late (between 90 and 180 days), you lose the first year and get four. Source: Revenue.
• Your employer must be in a DTA or TIEA country. The company that assigns you has to be incorporated and tax resident in a country with a double taxation agreement or a tax information exchange agreement with Ireland. You can work here for that company or an associated company in its group. Source: Revenue, SARP.

Who qualifies for SARP?

• Six months with the employer abroad. Immediately before the move you must have worked for the employer that assigns you, outside Ireland, for at least six months. Someone hired from the open market straight into an Irish job doesn't qualify, however high the salary.
• Five clear years of non-residence. You can't have been Irish tax resident in any of the five tax years before the year you arrive. A returning emigrant who left in 2022 and comes back in 2026 was resident in 2021 or 2022 and fails this test; one who left in 2019 can pass it.
• Base salary, not total pay. The €125,000 test counts your base salary only: bonuses, commission, benefits in kind and share-based pay are left out. A €110,000 salary plus a €40,000 bonus fails, even though total pay is €150,000.
• A part-year salary is annualised. If you arrive mid-year, Revenue looks at the annual equivalent of your base salary for the arrival year, not what you earned in Ireland in those months. Source: SARP manual, paragraph 6.1.
• 12 consecutive months working in Ireland. You must perform your duties in Ireland for at least 12 months in a row from when you start here. If you don't, relief already given through payroll is withdrawn and you're taxed as normal (SARP manual, paragraphs 4 and 18).
• Resident in each year you claim. SARP needs you to be Irish tax resident for the year. Our tax residency guide explains the 183 and 280-day tests, and the Tax Residence Check runs them on your dates.
• A PPSN within 90 days. For arrivals from 2023 you need a Personal Public Service Number before your employer's certification deadline, so start the application as soon as you land. Source: SARP manual, paragraph 5.1.

How much does SARP save?

The income is reduced by pension contributions you got relief on, reimbursed expenses and income on which you claim a foreign tax credit.

• Bonuses and RSUs count here. For the calculation, Revenue includes all income from the employment: bonuses, commission, benefits in kind and share-based remuneration such as RSUs. They don't help you pass the salary test, but they do increase the relief once you've passed it.
• Pension contributions come off first. Contributions you get tax relief on are deducted before the formula. In Revenue's example 9, €400,000 of income less a €23,000 pension contribution gives €377,000, and (€377,000 − €125,000) × 30% = €75,600 exempt, worth €30,240 (SARP manual).
• A 2025 arrival keeps the €100,000 threshold. On €190,000 of income, a 2025 arrival gets (€190,000 − €100,000) × 30% = €27,000 exempt, worth €10,800, while a 2026 arrival on the same pay gets €19,500, worth €7,800. The threshold is fixed by your arrival year.
• Relief is year by year. The salary test applies to each tax year you claim, so a year in which your base salary drops below the threshold gives no relief for that year. Check before agreeing a pay cut or a move to part-time.
• Check your take-home without SARP first. Our Salary After Tax calculator shows your net pay under the normal rules; SARP then reduces only the income tax line.

Worked example: a 2026 assignment from Milan

What SARP doesn't cover

• USC on the whole salary. In the worked example, USC is charged on all €200,000 of pay, at rates up to 8%, as if SARP didn't exist. Our USC guide explains the bands.
• PRSI unless you're covered at home. PRSI is due on your full pay unless an EU regulation or a bilateral social security agreement keeps you in your home system.
• No remittance basis on the employment income. Revenue's manual says your SARP employment income is taxed whether or not you bring it into Ireland. The residency guide explains where the remittance basis still matters for non-domiciled residents.
• No stacking with FED or TWR. You can't claim the Foreign Earnings Deduction, Transborder Workers' Relief or the R&D relief for employees for a year in which you claim SARP.
• Arriving late in the year. If you aren't resident in your arrival year, SARP isn't available for it unless you elect to be resident. With split-year treatment only income taxable in Ireland gets the relief: in Revenue's example 14, a 1 October arrival claims only on pay earned after arriving, and the threshold is reduced in proportion (€100,000 × 3/12 = €25,000 in that example).

Which expenses can your employer pay tax-free?

• School fees up to €5,000 per child a year. The school must be in Ireland, approved by the Minister for Education, and provide primary or post-primary education. Like the trip, these fees are free of USC and PRSI too. Fees above €5,000 per child aren't covered by SARP and are taxable in the normal way through payroll.
• One return trip a year. The reasonable cost of one return trip for you, your spouse or civil partner and your children, to your previous country of residence, the country you lived in when you first started working for the employer, or a country of which you or your spouse is a national. Revenue's manual says this trip is free of USC and PRSI too.
• Only in years you can claim. Both extras apply in the tax years you qualify for SARP. Anything else your employer pays, such as rent or a car, follows the normal benefit-in-kind rules.

What happens if your employer misses the 90-day deadline?

• Revenue's own example. David arrives on 12 February 2026 and his employer certifies him late but within 180 days. He gets no SARP for 2026 and can claim for 2027 to 2030 (SARP manual, example 1). On the worked example's figures, losing 2026 would cost €7,800.
• Ask HR in your first week. The certification is your employer's job, on the eSARP portal in ROS, and many relocation packages assume it happens automatically. Give payroll your arrival date and PPSN early, and ask for confirmation once Form SARP 1A has been submitted.
• The PPSN is part of the deadline. For arrivals from 2023, you need the PPSN before the certification deadline, so a slow PPSN appointment can cost you the first year.

How to claim SARP: what Revenue asks

1. Your employer certifies you. Within 90 days of your arrival it completes Form SARP 1A on the eSARP portal in ROS. A paper form is available only on request to the National SARP Unit, if the employer can't use the portal.
2. Relief through payroll or at year end. When applying, your employer can ask for approval to give the relief through payroll, so it reduces the income tax on each payslip. Otherwise you pay tax as normal and claim the relief back on your return.
3. You file a Form 11 every year. For 2026 the Form 11 is due by 31 October 2027, or Revenue's later ROS date if you pay and file online. A Form 12 isn't enough. Our Form 11 guide explains the return.
4. Your employer files an annual return. From 2026, Revenue's manual sets the employer's SARP annual return for 30 June after the tax year (previously 23 February), so check payroll has filed it.

What Revenue asks for:

• Your arrival date and assignment letter. The date you first came to Ireland to work starts both the 90-day deadline and the 12-month work test, so keep the letter that shows your employer asked you to move.
• Proof of six months with the group abroad. Payslips or an employment contract from the assigning company, showing at least six months working for it outside Ireland immediately before the move.
• Your base salary on its own. A contract or salary letter showing the base figure separately from bonus, benefits and shares, since only the base counts for the €125,000 test.
• Your residence history. Evidence that you weren't Irish resident in the five tax years before arrival, and day counts showing you're resident in each year you claim.

Our tax return service files the Form 11 for you each year, and the Premium plan adds an advisor for the arrival-year residence questions and the SARP check.

Related reading

• Irish tax residency: day count, domicile and split-year treatment
• Form 11 in Ireland: who must file, deadlines and preliminary tax
• RSU tax in Ireland: what you pay at vesting, and when you sell
• Benefit in kind in Ireland: company car, health insurance and other perks
• Ireland vs Europe: how Irish tax compares with 9 countries

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