Rates last updated: 24 October 2026 · How we verify
Sending Money Home from Ireland: What Revenue Lets You Claim, and What It Taxes
If you work in Ireland and send money to parents, siblings or children in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana, the Philippines, Brazil or anywhere else, two questions come up every year: can you claim anything for it, and is anyone taxed on it? The short answers are "not for the transfers themselves, but for three things around them" and "almost never". This guide covers both directions of the money, with the Revenue rules and an example in euro.
- There's no deduction for money you send home; what you can claim is 20% of the medical bills you pay for a relative abroad.
- The Dependent Relative Tax Credit (€305 a year for 2025 and 2026) applies if you maintain a widowed or incapacitated parent, and tuition fees relief needs an approved college.
- In our example a healthcare assistant supporting her mother in Lagos gets €805 back for 2025.
Approved colleges rule out undergraduate degrees outside the EU and UK, though postgraduate courses at a university or publicly funded college elsewhere can qualify. The transfers aren't income for anyone, and Irish gift tax leaves ordinary family support alone: €3,000 a year per person is exempt, and payments for the maintenance of a dependent relative aren't gifts at all, as long as they're normal for someone in your position and reasonable given your means. Four years are open, and 2022 closes on 31 December 2026. Run your own figures in the tax refund calculator.
Can you claim tax relief for money you send home?
- Not for the transfers: Irish income tax has no relief for supporting family abroad as such.
- Revenue doesn't ask you to declare money you send out of the country.
- The reliefs that do exist attach to what the money pays for: a dependent relative's upkeep, medical care you pay for anyone, and tuition fees at an approved college.
| What you pay for | Can you claim? | Worth, and where it's explained |
|---|---|---|
| A widowed parent's living costs, or a relative who can't support themselves through old age or infirmity | Yes: Dependent Relative Tax Credit | €305 a year for 2025 and 2026, €245 for 2022 to 2024, if their own income is within the limit (€18,028 for 2025); the relative can live abroad. See the Dependent Relative Tax Credit |
| Hospital, doctor, consultant and prescription bills for a relative abroad | Yes: health expenses relief | 20% of what you paid, for any person, if the practitioner is registered in that country. Explained below |
| University fees for a sibling or child | Only at an approved college | 20% of fees above a €3,000 disregard, max €7,000 per course; Irish, EU and UK colleges, and postgraduate courses at universities or publicly funded colleges elsewhere. A Nigerian or Kenyan undergraduate degree doesn't qualify. See tuition fees relief |
| School fees, rent, groceries, phone credit, a wedding, building a house back home | No | Ordinary support; no Irish relief |
| Your spouse living abroad with no income | Yes, but not as a deduction: the married credit and band | Aggregation relief after year end; up to €2,000 of credit and €9,000 more taxed at 20% for 2025. See spouse living abroad |
| Health insurance for a relative abroad | No | Medical insurance relief applies only to policies with an authorised insurer (one on the Irish register, or in limited cases an EU insurer), so a policy with an insurer in Nigeria or Kenya gets nothing; a bill the policy doesn't cover may still qualify as a health expense |
Medical bills you pay for family abroad: the relief nobody claims
- Revenue gives relief at 20% on qualifying health expenses you paid for yourself, a family member or any other person.
- Treatment abroad qualifies if the practitioner is registered under that country's laws to practise medicine or dentistry there (Revenue, qualifying expenses).
- A €2,500 hospital bill in Lagos you paid for your mother is €500 back.
- What qualifies. Doctor's and consultant's fees, hospital treatment, maternity care, ambulance transport, non-routine dental work, and, when prescribed or referred by a practitioner, drugs and medicines, physiotherapy, and medical or surgical appliances (Revenue). Routine dental and eye care and cosmetic procedures don't.
- Who you paid for doesn't matter. Revenue's page says the expenses can be your own, a family member's or any individual's, as long as you paid for them. Your mother, your brother's child or a cousin all count; what counts is that the money left your account.
- Proof is the hard part. Keep the hospital or clinic receipt in your name or showing that you paid, the practitioner's details and the prescription for medicines. A bank or mobile-money transfer to a relative who then paid the bill is weaker evidence than paying the hospital directly; where you can, pay the provider or get a receipt that names you as payer. Keep everything for six years.
- Convert at the rate you paid. Use the euro amount your bank or transfer service actually charged you, and keep that statement with the receipt.
- It's a relief at 20%, not a refund of the bill. €2,500 of bills is €500 of tax back, and only if you paid at least that much Irish income tax in the year.
Is the money you send taxed as a gift?
- Almost never: the first €3,000 a year from you to any one person is exempt from Irish gift tax (Capital Acquisitions Tax).
- Reasonable support for a dependent relative, or for your child under 18, in full-time education up to 25 or permanently incapacitated, isn't a gift at all.
- A parent receiving from a child is in Group B, with a lifetime threshold of €40,000 (€44,000 from 7 October 2026), so even larger one-off transfers rarely reach it.
- Who the tax falls on. CAT is the recipient's tax, not yours. A gift is within Irish CAT when the giver is resident or ordinarily resident in Ireland at the date of the disposition (for a simple transfer, the day you send it), when the recipient is, or when the property is in Ireland (section 6, Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003). A gift from you in Dublin to your mother in Nairobi is therefore inside the Irish net, in principle.
- The €3,000 small gift exemption. The first €3,000 you give to any one person in a calendar year is exempt and never counts against their threshold, so €250 a month to one parent is outside CAT entirely.
- Support of a dependent relative isn't a gift. Section 82(2) treats money for the support or maintenance of a dependent relative (the same definition as the Dependent Relative Tax Credit), or for the support, maintenance or education of your child (a minor, a child aged up to 25 in full-time education, or a permanently incapacitated child), as not being a gift at all, as long as it's normal expenditure for someone in your circumstances and reasonable given your means. Regular transfers to a widowed mother or an incapacitated parent fall here if they're the kind of outlay someone in your position would normally make and are proportionate to your income; a lump sum for a house isn't maintenance.
- Group B for parents. Revenue's CAT groups page puts a parent who takes a gift from a child in Group B, with siblings, nieces, nephews and grandchildren; the lifetime threshold is €40,000, rising to €44,000 for gifts taken on or after 7 October 2026, and the tax above it is 33%. A brother or sister you help is Group B too; a cousin or a friend is Group C (€20,000, €22,000 from 7 October 2026). Our CAT guide covers the thresholds, aggregation and the filing rule at 80% of the threshold.
- If you're not Irish-domiciled. Someone not domiciled in Ireland isn't treated as resident or ordinarily resident for CAT until they've been resident for five consecutive tax years (section 6(4)), so in your first five years a gift from you is caught only to the extent it consists of property in Ireland. Money already held abroad is outside Irish CAT whatever its size; money paid out of an Irish bank account is less clear-cut, because Revenue can treat an Irish bank balance as property in Ireland. In practice the €3,000 exemption and the maintenance rule above cover ordinary family support either way. The recipient's own country may have its own rules.
- The practical rule. Family support at a normal level: nothing to file. A one-off transfer of tens of thousands to a parent for a house: check the Group B total, and note the recipient must file a return once gifts from Group B exceed 80% of the threshold.
What about money coming the other way?
- It depends on what the money is: a gift from your parents is inside Irish CAT once you're resident here (or, if you're not Irish-domiciled, after five consecutive years).
- A child receiving from a parent is Group A with a €400,000 threshold (€420,000 from 7 October 2026), so a deposit for a flat is nothing to pay and usually nothing to file.
- Your own foreign income brought into Ireland is taxed under the remittance basis if you're not Irish-domiciled; savings you had before you moved aren't taxed.
- A gift from parents or family. CAT, not income tax. Group A (from a parent) €400,000, Group B (grandparent, sibling, aunt or uncle to a niece or nephew) €40,000, Group C (anyone else) €20,000, all lifetime totals since 5 December 1991, with the higher thresholds from 7 October 2026. Each person can also give you €3,000 a year exempt. Keep a note of what you receive and from whom: the recipient must file once a group's total exceeds 80% of the threshold, even with no tax due.
- Your own money. Rent from a house back home, interest on a home account or dividends, transferred to Ireland, are taxable here on arrival if you're not Irish-domiciled, and as they arise if you are. Our remittance basis guide explains what counts as bringing money in and why mixed accounts cost people money; our foreign rental income guide covers rent.
- Savings from before you moved. Capital, not income: bringing them into Ireland isn't taxed. The trap is an account that holds both old savings and new income, because Revenue treats transfers as coming from income first; keep them apart.
- Money sent home and then sent back. If you send part of your Irish salary home and your family later returns it, it isn't a remittance of foreign income: it was taxed salary when it left. Two caveats: any interest it earned abroad is foreign income, and a mixed account is treated as income first; and if the money was a gift to your family and they gift it back, the return is a gift from them, counted against your CAT threshold for that group (Group A from a parent). Keep the transfer records so the round trip is visible.
Does Revenue see your transfers?
- Sending your taxed Irish salary abroad isn't a taxable event, and there's no line on an Irish tax return for it.
- Larger transfers can prompt your bank or transfer service to ask where the money came from; that's anti-money-laundering, not tax.
- What Revenue does check is the reliefs you claim on the back of those transfers, so keep the records that show what the money paid for.
- Keep transfer records anyway. For the Dependent Relative Tax Credit, Revenue can ask for proof that you maintain the relative at your own expense; bank and mobile-money transfer records showing who received the money are that proof.
- Keep the relative's income evidence. The credit depends on their income staying within the limit for the year (€17,404 for 2024, €18,028 for 2025, €18,548 for 2026): a pension statement, an employer letter or a statement from their tax authority.
- Siblings sharing the support. The credit is divided between the people who maintain the relative, in proportion to what each contributes; agree who claims what before you file.
Worked example: a widowed mother in Lagos and a hospital bill
- Chidinma, a healthcare assistant in Drogheda, sent €400 a month to her widowed mother in Lagos in 2025 and paid €2,500 of her hospital, consultant and prescription bills directly.
- She can claim the Dependent Relative Tax Credit (€305) and health expenses relief (€500): €805 back for 2025.
- None of the €4,800 she sent is taxed on either side in Ireland.
Starting data (assumptions): Chidinma was Irish resident for all of 2025, earned €36,000 and paid €3,200 in Irish income tax after her credits, so there's enough tax to absorb the reliefs. Her mother is widowed, lives in Lagos, has a pension of about €1,200 a year and no other income, and relies on Chidinma's €400 a month (€4,800 in the year). In March 2025 her mother was admitted to a private hospital in Lagos; Chidinma paid the hospital, the consultant and the pharmacy directly by card, €2,500 in total at the euro amounts charged to her account, and has the receipts in her name and the prescriptions. Chidinma is not Irish-domiciled and has lived in Ireland since 2023.
| Calculation | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent Relative Tax Credit | 2025 rate; mother's income €1,200, within the €18,028 limit | €305.00 |
| Health expenses relief | €2,500 × 20% | €500.00 |
| Tax back for 2025 | €305 + €500 | €805.00 |
| Gift tax on the €4,800 sent | €3,000 small gift exemption, and maintenance of a dependent relative isn't a gift (section 82(2)) | €0.00 |
The €4,800 of transfers is the evidence for the credit, not something that's deducted. If a brother in Abuja also sends their mother money, the €305 is split between them in proportion to what each pays. If Chidinma had sent the €2,500 to her mother and her mother had paid the hospital, the health expenses claim would rest on receipts in her mother's name plus the transfer, which Revenue may accept but can question; paying the provider directly, as she did, removes the doubt. The same two claims for 2022 to 2024 are made on each year's return, at €245 for the credit in those years.
What Revenue actually asks for
- You file an Income Tax Return in myAccount for each year, with the Dependent Relative Tax Credit and the health expenses entered.
- Keep the receipts rather than sending them: Revenue can ask for them later.
- For the Dependent Relative Tax Credit it can also ask for proof of maintenance and of the relative's income.
- Sign in to myAccount with your PPSN and add your IBAN to your Revenue profile.
- Under PAYE Services, choose Review your tax for the previous 4 years and request a Statement of Liability for the year.
- Complete the Income Tax Return: under health expenses, enter the total you paid for qualifying treatment, including bills paid for relatives abroad; under tax credits, add the Dependent Relative Tax Credit with the relative's details and income.
- Keep the file: receipts naming you as payer, prescriptions, the euro amounts from your bank or transfer statements, the transfer records to the relative and evidence of their income, for six years.
- Repeat for each year from 2022 to 2025. Don't claim the transfers themselves anywhere: there's no box for them, and listing them as an expense invites a query.
If you'd rather not file four years yourself, our Tax Back service does it for you. No refund, no fee.
Where do you start?
Go through your transfers for 2022 to 2025 and separate three piles: regular support for a widowed or incapacitated parent (the credit), medical bills you paid (20% relief) and everything else (nothing to claim). 2022 closes for good on 31 December 2026.
Related reading
Questions we get asked
Can I deduct the money I send to my parents abroad?
No. There's no deduction for the transfers. You can claim the Dependent Relative Tax Credit (€305 for 2025 and 2026) if your parent is widowed or can't support themselves through old age or infirmity and their income is within the limit, and 20% relief on medical bills you paid for them.
Can I claim medical expenses I paid for my mother in Nigeria or Kenya?
Yes, if they're qualifying health expenses and the practitioner is registered to practise in that country. Revenue allows the relief for expenses you paid for any person. Keep receipts showing you paid, the prescriptions and your bank's euro amounts.
Do my parents pay Irish gift tax on what I send them?
In practice no. The first €3,000 a year from you to each person is exempt, and reasonable payments for the support or maintenance of a dependent relative aren't gifts at all. For larger one-off amounts, a parent receiving from a child has a €40,000 lifetime Group B threshold (€44,000 from 7 October 2026).
My parents want to send me money for a deposit. Is it taxed?
It's a gift from a parent, so Group A with a €400,000 lifetime threshold (€420,000 from 7 October 2026): no tax on a deposit, and no return unless your Group A total exceeds 80% of the threshold. If you're not Irish-domiciled and have been resident for fewer than five consecutive years, the gift is outside Irish CAT altogether unless it's Irish property.
Is money I bring back from home taxed in Ireland?
Only if it's income. Savings you had before you became resident are capital and aren't taxed when you bring them in. Rent, interest or dividends from home are taxed here, when brought in if you're not Irish-domiciled. Keep old savings and new income in separate accounts.