Tax for Italian Workers in Ireland: RSUs, Refunds and What Nobody Tells You

What being an EU citizen changes — and what it doesn't

As an Italian citizen you need no employment permit and no immigration stamp. You can start work as soon as you have a PPSN, and you can change employer freely.

For tax, that changes almost nothing. Irish tax residence is decided by days in the country — 183 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 doesn't enter the test. You get the same credits, the same rate bands and the same reliefs as an Irish citizen, and the same obligation to claim them yourself. Revenue's rules are on its tax residence page.

What free movement does give you is speed. Which is why, for this group, the interesting problems start after the first payslip rather than with it.

Your RSUs are taxed twice — at two different rates

This is the part that surprises nearly everyone, and it's not a mistake. It's how the system works.

At vesting, RSUs are employment income. When shares vest, their market value on that date is treated as pay. It goes through payroll, taxed at your marginal rate along with USC and PRSI — which for a higher-rate taxpayer is around 52% of the value. Your employer handles this; you'll see it on your payslip.

At sale, any further growth is a capital gain. The value already taxed as income becomes your base cost. Anything the shares gain after that is subject to Capital Gains Tax at 33% when you sell.

So the same shares are taxed under two different regimes at two different points, and the second one is entirely your responsibility.

Here's what that looks like.

Two rules to hold onto. The €1,270 annual exemption is per person per year, doesn't carry forward if unused, and isn't transferable between spouses. And where you've sold shares from several vests, Ireland matches disposals on a first-in, first-out basis — the oldest shares are treated as sold first, regardless of which ones you intended to sell.

ESPP works on similar logic: the discount you received is generally taxed as income, and the growth after that is a capital gain. But note that some ESPPs are drafted in a way that makes them share option plans rather than share purchase plans, which changes the treatment — check what your plan documents actually say rather than assuming.

The return nobody tells you to file

Here's where people get caught, and it has nothing to do with paying the tax.

Paying CGT and filing a CGT return are two separate obligations, on two different calendars.

You file on a Form CG1 if you're a PAYE employee, or within your Form 11 if you're self-assessed. And critically: you must file even if no tax is due — including years where the €1,270 exemption covered your entire gain, or where you made a loss.

Late filing carries a surcharge of 5% of the tax due if you're up to two months late, and 10% beyond that.

So a well-paid employee at a Dublin multinational can pay their CGT correctly in December, feel entirely on top of things, and pick up a surcharge ten months later for a return they never knew about. This is the single most common failure we see in this group. The full mechanics apply identically to crypto and are set out in crypto tax in Ireland.

Losses are worth filing too. A loss carries forward indefinitely against future gains — but only if you declared it. A loss you never reported isn't on file waiting for you.

If you exercised share options before 2024, read this

The rules changed, and the change created a trap for anyone with older exercises still sitting in an open tax year.

For gains realised on or after 1 January 2024, your employer deducts income tax, USC and PRSI through payroll. You don't register for RTSO, you don't submit a Form RTSO1, and you're not obliged to file an Income Tax Return for that event.

For gains realised before 1 January 2024, the old self-assessment regime applied: you were required to pay Relevant Tax on Share Options and submit a Form RTSO1 within 30 days of exercise — the 30 days includes the exercise date — and to file a Form 11 for that year.

2022 and 2023 are still open tax years. If you exercised options in either year and nobody told you about the 30-day rule, that obligation didn't disappear. Late RTSO attracts interest at 0.0219% per day, charged from the due date until payment.

If that describes you, it's worth dealing with rather than hoping. Revenue does write to people about unpaid RTSO, and a voluntary correction is a much better position than a letter.

One more thing that applies regardless of scheme type: dividends on your shares must be declared in Ireland, even where foreign withholding tax was already deducted at source.

What's worth claiming at 40%

Reliefs are worth your marginal rate, which for most people reading this is 40%. That makes several things worth more to you than to the average claimant.

Pension and AVCs. This is the biggest lever available to a higher earner. Relief is given at your marginal rate on contributions up to an age-related percentage of earnings — 15% under 30, rising through 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% to 40% at 60 and over — subject to an earnings cap of €115,000. Contribute €5,000 at the higher rate and it costs you €3,000. Note relief applies to income tax only, not USC or PRSI. There's also a timing rule worth knowing, covered in AVC and pension tax relief.

The Rent Tax Credit, worth up to €1,000 a year from 2024 and €500 for 2022 and 2023 — and if you're jointly assessed, double that. Dublin rents mean almost everyone is at the cap. See the Rent Tax Credit guide.

Medical expenses at 20%, and remote working relief, which is a deduction and therefore worth 40% of the allowable cost to you.

Joint assessment, if your partner earns significantly less or isn't working. Part of their rate band and their unused credits can transfer to you. It has to be elected.

The full list is in the top Irish tax deductions you could be missing.

What about Italy?

Ireland and Italy have a double taxation agreement, which prevents the same income being taxed twice. But it operates on claim, not automatically, and there are two Italian-side issues that no Irish adviser can resolve for you.

AIRE. Italians resident abroad are required to register with the Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all'Estero. This is an Italian administrative and legal obligation, not an Irish one — but it matters here because your Italian residence position can affect whether Italy still regards you as tax resident, and therefore what Italy expects you to declare. If you moved to Dublin and never registered, that's worth resolving with an Italian commercialista rather than leaving open.

Property and income in Italy. If you kept an apartment, or you have investments or income there, both countries may have a claim. The treaty and a foreign tax credit resolve the overlap, but the credit must be claimed and evidenced, and it's capped at the Irish tax attributable to that income.

And a point that becomes relevant the longer you stay: once you've been Irish tax resident for three consecutive years you become ordinarily resident from the start of the fourth year, which brings disposals of assets wherever located within the charge to Irish CGT. Selling the flat in Milan after four years in Dublin is an Irish question as well as an Italian one — and ordinary residence continues for three years after you stop being resident. The framework is in moving to Ireland: how cross-border taxes work.

If you have Irish employment income, share scheme proceeds and Italian assets in the same tax year, that's the position our VIP Premium service is built for.

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 full share scheme history: vest dates, quantities, market value at vest, sale dates, sale prices, and broker fees. Export this from your equity platform now rather than after you've left the company — losing access to Fidelity, Morgan Stanley or E*TRADE when you change jobs is a real and common problem.
• Dividend statements, including foreign withholding tax deducted.
• Your RT number and landlord details if you rent.
• Pension contribution certificates for anything paid outside payroll.
• Documentation of Italian tax paid, if claiming a foreign tax credit.

If you'd rather have four years reviewed properly, including the share scheme years, our Tax Back service handles the full 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.

For someone who arrived mid-year, rented in Dublin, had RSUs vest and never filed a CG1, all four of those years are worth opening at once.

If you're planning to move on — to Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan or anywhere else — do the review before you go, while you still have an Irish bank account and access to your equity platform. See leaving Ireland and the refund you might be owed.

Questions we get asked

My RSUs are taxed through payroll. Is there anything left for me to do?

Yes, at the point you sell. Payroll handles the income tax at vest. The capital gain on any growth after vest is entirely yours to calculate, pay and — importantly — file. Many people do the first two and miss the third.

I sold shares but the gain was under €1,270 so I paid nothing. Do I still file?

Yes. The obligation to file a CGT return is separate from the obligation to pay, and it applies even when the exemption covers the whole gain. The same is true of a loss-making year.

I exercised options in 2023 and never heard of an RTSO1. What now?

That obligation applied to pre-2024 exercises, with payment due within 30 days and interest running at 0.0219% per day since. 2023 is still an open year. Address it proactively — a voluntary correction is a far better position than waiting for Revenue to write.

I never registered with AIRE. Does that affect my Irish tax?

Not directly — Irish tax residence is decided by days spent in Ireland, not by Italian registration. But it can affect what Italy considers your position to be, which is a question for an Italian commercialista. The two systems reach their own conclusions independently.

I'm moving back to Italy next year. What should I do first?

Export your entire share scheme history, check whether you have unfiled CG1 returns for any open year, update your bank details in myAccount, and claim the open years before you lose easy access to Irish records. The departure year itself is usually the largest refund, because a full year's credits meet a part year's earnings.

If you've had shares vest at any point since 2022, check one thing this week: whether a CGT return was filed for each year you sold. That's where the surcharges come from.

Related reading

• Crypto tax in Ireland
• AVC and pension tax relief
• Moving to Ireland: how cross-border taxes work