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🇰🇪 Tax Refunds for Kenyan Workers in Ireland: Refunds, KRA and the Treaty That Isn't in Force Yet
If you're from Kenya and working in Ireland, most often in nursing and care, your refund usually comes from emergency tax on arrival, the uniform allowance and the Rent Tax Credit.
- Your Irish salary is taxed in Ireland, and the Ireland–Kenya treaty isn't in force yet.
- In our worked example, a nurse who arrived in June 2025 gets €1,646.60 back for that year.
- That's €500 of emergency tax, €146.60 from the €733 uniform allowance and €1,000 of Rent Tax Credit.
Estimate yours with the tax refund calculator.
Is the Ireland–Kenya double tax treaty in force?
- No: Ireland and Kenya signed a double taxation agreement on 23 July 2021, but Revenue still lists it as not yet in effect.
- Until it takes effect, no treaty article decides which country taxes what.
- Your Irish salary is taxed in Ireland regardless.
- Your Irish employment income is taxed in Ireland. PAYE, USC and PRSI apply as for anyone else. While you're Irish resident (or elect to be in your arrival year), your credits and refund work the same with or without a treaty. In a year you're non-resident, Revenue gives no personal tax credits to non-residents who aren't EU citizens or citizens of a country with a tax treaty with Ireland, and that currently includes Kenyan citizens (Revenue).
- There's no treaty tie-breaker for residence. If Ireland and Kenya both treat you as resident in the same year, each applies its own domestic test and no agreement settles it yet.
- There's no treaty credit for Kenyan tax. If you pay Kenyan tax on rent or other Kenyan income, any relief in Ireland depends on Irish domestic rules, case by case.
In October 2024 the Minister for Health announced an intention to develop a bilateral labour agreement with Kenya for nursing and midwifery. It was an intention, not a signed agreement, and it's about recruitment, not tax.
Are you still a Kenyan tax resident while working in Ireland?
- Possibly: per PwC's Kenya tax summary (reviewed 17 July 2026), a permanent home in Kenya plus any time there in the year makes you resident.
- Without a permanent home, it's 183 days there, or an average of more than 122 days a year over that year and the two before.
- How that applies to you is a question for a Kenyan adviser.
- The permanent-home test is the one to watch. If your family home in Kenya is still yours and you fly back for Christmas, you could be Kenyan resident that year.
- Irish residence is a separate test. Ireland counts days: 183 in a tax year, or 280 over this year and last with more than 30 this year, per Revenue. If you arrive intending to stay and will be resident the following year, you can elect in writing to be resident in your arrival year. Being resident in both countries is possible.
- What Kenya does with your Irish salary if you are Kenyan resident is a question for a Kenyan adviser. We don't advise on Kenyan law.
Your KRA PIN. KRA says you need a PIN if you expect to earn any income from Kenya, and every PIN holder must file through iTax. Individual returns are due by 30 June of the following year. With a PIN and no Kenyan income, you'd generally still file (a nil return); KRA's diaspora FAQ also lets you apply for dormancy or cancellation in iTax, and you must keep filing until KRA approves it.
How is rent from a house in Kenya taxed?
- If you're Kenyan-resident, rent of KES 288,000 to KES 15 million a year falls under Monthly Rental Income tax at 7.5% of gross rent, with no deductions.
- It's filed and paid by the 20th of the following month (KRA eRITS FAQs, checked October 2026).
- Non-resident landlords face withholding tax of 30% of gross rent instead (KRA withholding rates).
- Kenya's side. KRA's diaspora page describes this tax as applying to residents. If you're no longer Kenyan resident, how your rent is taxed there is a question for a Kenyan adviser.
- Ireland's side. Irish residents declare foreign rent on their Income Tax Return, taxed on the net amount after allowable expenses, per Revenue's foreign rental income page. See rental income tax in Ireland.
- If you're not Irish-domiciled, Revenue's domicile page explains the remittance basis, where foreign income can be taxed only to the extent it's brought into Ireland. Whether it applies to you needs checking.
- No treaty means no automatic credit for the Kenyan tax. If you have Kenyan rent, get both sides looked at before you file.
Why was your first Irish payslip taxed so heavily?
- It's emergency tax: if your employer has no Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN) for you, it must use emergency rates.
- Without a PPSN it's 40% on all pay from the first payslip; with one, the single rate band at 20% for four weeks, then 40% on everything.
- Emergency USC is a flat 8% (2026).
- Without a PPSN. Your employer taxes all your pay at 40%, with no time limit, until a PPSN and RPN arrive. That's on Revenue's emergency tax page. The PPSN comes from the Department of Social Protection, not Revenue.
- With a PPSN but no RPN. For four weeks, income up to the single person's rate band is taxed at 20%; from week 5 everything is taxed at 40% until the RPN reaches payroll.
- It often doesn't fully unwind. Once your job is registered in myAccount, payroll usually corrects things, but in the arrival year, especially with an agency on top, some overpayment often stays. The fix is a return for that year. See emergency tax in Ireland.
How much is the nurses' uniform allowance worth?
- Revenue's flat rate expenses list gives nurses €733, €638, €353 or €258 a year, plus €80 for short-term agency contracts.
- It's a deduction, so at 20% the €733 allowance is worth €146.60 a year in tax.
- You can claim it four years back.
| Nurse category (Revenue's wording) | Annual allowance |
|---|---|
| Obliged to supply and launder own uniforms | €733 |
| Obliged to supply but do not launder uniforms | €638 |
| Obliged to launder the uniforms supplied | €353 |
| Uniforms supplied and laundered by hospital | €258 |
| Short-term contracts through an agency: additional amount | +€80 |
- Healthcare assistants: Revenue has no separate HCA category. The closest is "Nursing Assistants (including attendants, orderlies and nurses' aides)": €526, €440, €234 or €93 on the same four arrangements.
- The amounts are the same for 2020 to 2026, so a nurse who supplied and laundered her uniforms in all of 2022 to 2025 can claim €733 for each year, worth €146.60 a year at 20%, or €586.40 over four years.
- Hospital job plus agency shifts? Your credits and rate band usually sit with the main job, so the agency taxes everything at 40%, and if the agency has no RPN for you, emergency tax (including 8% USC) applies. If your total income is within your 20% band, that's an overpayment you can reclaim. Split them in myAccount and claim back past years. See tax on a second job and flat rate expenses for nurses.
Worked example: a Kenyan nurse who arrived in June 2025
- On the assumptions below, a Kenyan nurse who arrived in June 2025 is owed €1,646.60 for 2025.
- That's €500 of emergency tax never unwound, €146.60 from the uniform allowance and €1,000 of Rent Tax Credit.
- Your figure depends on your own records.
Assumptions. She arrives and starts work on 1 June 2025, so she's in Ireland for more than 183 days and is Irish resident for 2025. She's single, earns €28,000 gross from June to December, supplies and launders her own uniforms (€733), and pays rent of €1,200 a month from June, €8,400 in total, on a registered tenancy. Her Employment Detail Summary shows €2,100 of income tax deducted. 2025 credits are €2,000 personal and €2,000 employee, with a €44,000 standard rate band (Revenue tax relief charts). The Rent Tax Credit is 20% of rent paid, capped at €1,000 for 2025 (Revenue).
| 2025 | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | €28,000.00 | |
| Less uniform allowance | −€733.00 | |
| Taxable income (all within the €44,000 band) | €28,000 − €733 | €27,267.00 |
| Tax at 20% | €27,267 × 20% | €5,453.40 |
| Less personal and employee credits | €2,000 + €2,000 | −€4,000.00 |
| Rent Tax Credit | 20% × €8,400 = €1,680, capped at €1,000 | −€1,000.00 |
| Correct income tax for 2025 | €453.40 | |
| Tax actually deducted (assumption, from the EDS) | €2,100.00 | |
| Refund | €2,100 − €453.40 | €1,646.60 |
Where it comes from. Without any claims, her correct tax would be €5,600 − €4,000 = €1,600, so €500 is overpaid emergency tax. The uniform allowance adds €733 × 20% = €146.60 and the rent credit €1,000: €500 + €146.60 + €1,000 = €1,646.60. Emergency USC is also recalculated on the return; it isn't included here.
The rent credit can't exceed the income tax you owe. 2022 and 2023 used a €500 cap (€1,000 for a jointly assessed couple); 2024 to 2026 are €1,000, or €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple (Revenue). See the Rent Tax Credit guide.
What if your spouse or parents are still in Kenya?
- If you're Irish resident and your spouse is in Kenya, you're taxed as single during the year.
- If your spouse has no income, you can claim the married credit (€4,000 in 2026) and married band (€53,000) after the year ends.
- Supporting a widowed parent, or a relative who can't maintain themselves through old age or infirmity, can add a €305 Dependent Relative Tax Credit for 2025 and 2026.
Spouse abroad: aggregation relief. Per Revenue, you claim on an Income Tax Return after the year ends, declaring your spouse's income. If your spouse has income in Kenya, you get a proportion of the relief based on your Irish income's share of your combined income. With a spouse who doesn't work, the wider band can move up to €9,000 from 40% to 20% (worth up to €1,800), on top of the extra €2,000 credit. Full detail in spouse living abroad.
Parents you support. The Dependent Relative Tax Credit is €305 for 2025 and 2026 and €245 for 2022 to 2024. It covers a relative who can't maintain themselves through old age or infirmity, or a widowed parent, and they generally needn't live in Ireland. Their own income must not exceed €18,548 for 2026 (€18,028 for 2025). See the dependent relative tax credit.
Can you claim tax relief on money you send home by M-Pesa?
- No: money you send to Kenya by M-Pesa, bank transfer or any other app comes out of income already taxed here.
- There's no Irish relief for remittances as such.
- The only related relief is the €305 Dependent Relative Tax Credit, if a parent or relative you support meets Revenue's conditions.
Transfer fees and exchange-rate margins aren't deductible either. To see what a transfer is worth in shillings, check the rate your transfer service shows.
What Revenue actually asks for
- A PPSN, myAccount access, and one Income Tax Return (Form 12) per year in myAccount.
- You don't need old payslips: your Employment Detail Summary already holds what your employers reported.
- Get your PPSN from the Department of Social Protection via MyWelfare. It's permanent, even if you leave and come back.
- Register for myAccount with your PPSN, or sign in with MyGovID, and add your IBAN so the refund is paid straight to your account.
- Download your Employment Detail Summary for each year from 2022 to 2025, showing every employer, agency and the tax deducted.
- Open "Review your tax" and request the Income Tax Return (Form 12) for the year. Add the uniform allowance under flat rate expenses, choosing your nursing category.
- Claim the Rent Tax Credit in the same return, with your landlord and tenancy details, and keep proof of the rent you paid.
- Add aggregation relief or the Dependent Relative Tax Credit if they apply. Submit, and Revenue issues a Statement of Liability showing the refund.
If Kenyan rent or a spouse's income complicates things, our Tax Back service handles four years at once.
How far back can you claim?
- Four years: in 2026 you can claim 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, each on its own return.
- 2022 closes for good on 31 December 2026, so if you were in Ireland that year, file that one first.
- 2022 and 2023 are worth checking. The €733 uniform allowance and the €500 single Rent Tax Credit both applied, and arrival-year emergency tax may never have been unwound. See the 2022 refund deadline.
- Leaving Ireland? File before you go, while you still have an Irish bank account. See leaving Ireland and your tax refund.
- Immigration and tax are separate. A refund claim is ordinary tax compliance; permit or citizenship questions are for an immigration solicitor.
Where do you start?
Download your Employment Detail Summaries, check whether your first year was on emergency tax, and run your numbers through the tax refund calculator. If 2022 is one of your years, file it before 31 December 2026.
Related reading
Questions we get asked
Does the Ireland–Kenya tax treaty apply to me yet?
No. It was signed on 23 July 2021 but Revenue lists it as not yet in effect. Your Irish salary is taxed in Ireland. While you're Irish resident, your credits and refunds work the same way with or without it.
Do I still need to file a KRA return while living in Ireland?
KRA says every person with a PIN must file through iTax, with individual returns due by 30 June of the following year. If you have no Kenyan income, that's usually a nil return, or you can ask KRA for dormant status in iTax and keep filing until it's approved. Your exact obligations are a question for a Kenyan adviser.
How much is the uniform allowance for nurses in Ireland?
€733, €638, €353 or €258 a year, depending on whether you supply and launder your own uniforms, plus €80 if you're on short-term agency contracts. It's a deduction, so €733 is worth €146.60 at 20%, for each of the four open years.
I earn rent from a house in Kenya. Do I tell Revenue?
If you're Irish resident, foreign rent is generally declared on your Irish Income Tax Return, though the remittance basis can limit this if you're not Irish-domiciled. In Kenya, KRA charges Kenyan-resident landlords 7.5% of gross residential rent between KES 288,000 and KES 15 million a year; non-resident landlords face 30% withholding tax. With no treaty in force, get both sides checked.
Can I get tax back on money I send to my family in Kenya?
No. Remittances come out of income already taxed in Ireland. The only related relief is the Dependent Relative Tax Credit, €305 for 2025 and 2026, for a widowed parent or a relative who can't maintain themselves because of old age or infirmity.