Tax for French Workers in Ireland: Refunds, French Savings and What Doesn't Travel With You
If you moved to Dublin for a role in tech, pharma, finance or aviation, the Irish side of your tax life is probably straightforward. Your employer runs payroll properly, and once your first month is sorted, nothing looks wrong.
The problems are usually French — and specifically, they're about what you left behind. Your assurance-vie, your PEA, your Livret A and your apartment in Lyon were all built around French tax rules. Those rules do not travel with you. Ireland applies its own, and in several cases they're materially less generous than what you're used to.
This guide covers the Irish refunds you're owed, what to claim at the 40% rate, and the French products and income that need attention before they become expensive.
Une version française de ce guide est disponible.
What being an EU citizen changes — and what it doesn't
You need no permit and no immigration stamp, and you can start work as soon as you have a PPSN.
For tax, that changes very little. Irish residence is decided by days: 183 or more in a tax year, or 280 across the current and previous year provided you were here more than 30 days in the current one. Citizenship isn't part of the test. You get the same credits, rate bands and reliefs as an Irish citizen — and the same obligation to claim them, because none apply automatically. Revenue's rules are on its tax residence page.
Your first year is usually your biggest refund
Irish payroll spreads your credits and rate band across twelve months on the assumption that you'll work all twelve. Arrive in April and you've earned in nine — but your liability is calculated on your actual annual income against a full year's credits. The gap is your refund, and the higher your salary, the larger it tends to be.
Split Year Treatment protects that position. If you worked in France before arriving, that French employment income would otherwise enter the Irish computation as worldwide income. Split Year Treatment excludes pre-arrival employment income while leaving you the full year's credits. Since the Finance Act 2024, for arrivals from 1 January 2025 you self-assess and claim it in your Income Tax Return rather than writing to Revenue in advance.
Note the word employment. It does not cover French rental income, investment income or directorship income — those remain in scope, which brings us to the section below.
The French products that don't travel
This is the part worth reading twice.
Assurance-vie. The French tax treatment of an assurance-vie — the favourable regime after eight years, the abattement on withdrawals — is a feature of French law. Ireland does not recognise the wrapper and does not replicate the benefit. Ireland has its own regime for foreign investment products, which in some cases taxes them differently and less favourably than an ordinary capital gain. Exactly how your policy is treated depends on how it's structured and what it invests in, and this genuinely needs to be looked at rather than assumed in either direction.
PEA. Same logic. The Plan d'Épargne en Actions exists because French law says it does. Becoming Irish tax resident doesn't carry that shelter across, and the growth inside it doesn't become invisible to Revenue.
Livret A and similar. Interest that is tax-free in France is not automatically tax-free in Ireland. If you're Irish tax resident, foreign interest can be within scope here — a small amount in most cases, but it's exactly the sort of thing people assume needs no thought at all.
The honest position: these three are the most common reason a French professional in Dublin ends up with a more complicated return than they expected. None of them are problems if handled deliberately. All of them can become problems if left on autopilot for four years. That's the situation our VIP Premium service is built for.
If you kept a property in France
Very common, and the arithmetic is worth seeing.
Ireland and France have had a double taxation convention since it was signed in Paris on 21 March 1968, in force from 1971 and since modified by the Multilateral Convention (MLI). It prevents the same income being taxed twice — but it works on claim, not automatically.
Say your French apartment produces a rental profit of €12,000 for the year, on which you paid €2,400 in French tax. You're Irish tax resident and a higher-rate taxpayer here.
French rental income: Irish tax after foreign tax credit
| Calculation | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
| French rental profit | €12,000.00 | |
| Irish tax at 40% | €12,000 × 40% | €4,800.00 |
| Less credit for French tax paid | −€2,400.00 | |
| Net Irish tax on that income | €2,400.00 |
Three things to take from that.
The credit has to be claimed and evidenced. Revenue doesn't apply it for you, and a relevé from your gestionnaire usually isn't enough on its own — you want documentation from the French tax authority.
The credit is capped at the Irish tax attributable to that income. If France taxed it more heavily than Ireland would, you don't get the excess back from Revenue.
French social charges are a separate question. Whether prélèvements sociaux count as creditable tax under the convention is not the same question as whether income tax does, and it shouldn't be assumed. Worth checking rather than netting off.
And if you're thinking about selling: once you've been Irish tax resident for three consecutive years you become ordinarily resident from the start of year four, which brings disposals of assets wherever located within Irish CGT — including that apartment. Ordinary residence continues for three years after you stop being resident, so moving back to France doesn't end it immediately. The framework is in moving to Ireland: how cross-border taxes work.
What's worth claiming at 40%
Pension and AVCs are the biggest lever available to a higher earner. Relief runs at your marginal rate on contributions up to an age-related percentage of earnings — 15% under 30, then 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, and 40% from age 60 — subject to an earnings cap of €115,000. A €5,000 contribution at the higher rate costs you €3,000. Relief applies to income tax only, not USC or PRSI. See AVC and pension tax relief.
The Rent Tax Credit — up to €1,000 a year from 2024, €500 for 2022 and 2023, doubled for jointly assessed couples. See the Rent Tax Credit guide.
Medical expenses at 20%, remote working relief as a deduction worth 40% to you, and joint assessment as described above.
The full list is in the top Irish tax deductions you could be missing.
If your package includes shares
RSUs are taxed twice, under two regimes. At vesting, market value is employment income taxed through payroll at your marginal rate with USC and PRSI. That value becomes your base cost, and growth after vesting is a capital gain at 33% on sale.
Paying and filing are separate obligations. CGT on disposals from January to November is payable by 15 December of the same year; December disposals by 31 January. But the return — Form CG1 for a PAYE employee — isn't due until 31 October of the following year, and you must file it even when no tax is due, including years covered by the €1,270 annual exemption or where you made a loss. Late filing carries a surcharge of 5% up to two months, 10% beyond.
Share options changed in 2024. Gains realised from 1 January 2024 are taxed through payroll. For exercises before that date, you were required to file a Form RTSO1 and pay within 30 days of exercise, with interest at 0.0219% per day on late payment. 2022 and 2023 remain open years, so an unaddressed 2023 exercise is worth dealing with proactively.
The CGT mechanics are the same for shares as for anything else — set out in crypto tax in Ireland.
What you need before you claim
Gather these first and the whole thing takes about twenty minutes:
- Your PPSN and myAccount access.
- Your IBAN entered in your Revenue profile — refunds are paid by transfer only.
- Your Employment Detail Summary for each year, from myAccount.
- Your French employment records for your arrival year, if claiming Split Year Treatment.
- Statements for any French savings or investment products — assurance-vie, PEA, securities accounts — including what they hold and when it was opened.
- French rental accounts and evidence of French tax paid, from the French tax authority.
- Your full share scheme history — vest dates, quantities, value at vest, sale dates and prices.
- Your RT number and landlord details if you rent here.
If you'd rather have four years reviewed properly, including the French side, our Tax Back service handles the return. No refund, no fee.
Four years, and one deadline
You can claim back four years. As of 2026 that's 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 — and 2022 closes permanently on 31 December 2026.
If you're moving on — back to France, or to Amsterdam or Luxembourg — do the review before you go, while you still have an Irish bank account and myAccount access. The departure year is usually a large refund for the same reason your arrival year was. See leaving Ireland and the refund you might be owed.
Questions we get asked
Does my assurance-vie stay tax-free now that I live in Ireland?
No, not automatically. Its treatment in France follows French law; Ireland applies its own rules to foreign investment products, and those can be less favourable than an ordinary capital gain. How your particular policy is treated depends on its structure and holdings. This is the single most common French-specific issue we see, and it's one to resolve early rather than at year four.
My spouse doesn't work. Do we get taxed as a household like in France?
Not by default. Ireland taxes individuals. Joint assessment lets a lower earner's unused credits and part of their rate band transfer to the higher earner, but you have to elect for it with Revenue. It can also be backdated within the four-year window if you've missed it.
I rent out my apartment in France. Do I declare it here too?
If you're Irish tax resident, yes — foreign rental income can be within the Irish net alongside the French one. The treaty and a foreign tax credit stop you being taxed twice on the same profit, but the credit must be claimed and evidenced, and it's capped at the Irish tax on that income.
I still have a Livret A. Does that need declaring?
Foreign interest can be within scope for an Irish tax resident even where it's exempt in France. The amounts are usually modest, but "tax-free at home" doesn't automatically mean "nothing to consider here."
I sold RSUs but the gain was under €1,270. Do I still file?
Yes. The filing obligation is separate from the payment obligation and applies even when the exemption covers the whole gain — and in loss-making years, where filing is what preserves the loss for future use.
If you have French savings products and you've been Irish tax resident for more than a year, that's the thing to look at first. Everything else on this page can wait a month; that one compounds.