The Expat's Guide to Irish Tax

Residence & domicile

The two things that decide how Irish tax applies to you — and why they are not the same thing.

In short: Ireland decides whether it can tax you by counting days, not by looking at your passport or your work permit. Spend 183 days here in a calendar year, or 280 across this year and last, and you are tax resident. Where your permanent home is (your domicile) is a separate question, and it decides how Ireland treats the income and gains you still have abroad.

The day count

You are Irish tax resident for a year (January to December) if either test is met:

• You spend 183 days or more in Ireland in that year.
• You spend 280 days or more across that year and the previous one, with more than 30 days in each. A year with 30 days or fewer never counts as resident, and its days do not count towards the 280.

A day counts if you are in Ireland at any point in it, so the day you land and the day you leave both count. Time airside in transit does not. Nationality, visa type and where your employer is based change nothing: a Critical Skills permit holder and an EU citizen on the same dates get the same answer.

Arrived late in the year? You can choose to be resident

If you arrive after July you will usually fall short of 183 days. If you will be resident next year, you can elect to be treated as resident for the arrival year too. The election is made in writing to Revenue and cannot be withdrawn, but it is usually worth it: a resident gets a full year of tax credits against only a few months of Irish salary, which is where most arrival-year refunds come from.

Ordinary residence: the status that follows you

After three consecutive years of residence you become ordinarily resident from the fourth year. It only ends after three consecutive years of non-residence. While it lasts, Ireland can tax your capital gains wherever in the world they arise, including after you have moved away, so a share sale two years after leaving Dublin can still be an Irish CGT event.

Domicile and the remittance basis

Domicile is your permanent home in the legal sense, and moving to Ireland for work does not change it. If you are resident but not Irish-domiciled, foreign investment income and foreign gains are taxed in Ireland only when you bring them into the country (the remittance basis). Your Irish salary is taxed in full either way, and what counts as a remittance is wider than a bank transfer, so keep pre-arrival money and post-arrival gains in separate accounts.

Resident in two countries at once

Your home country may still treat you as resident, especially in the year you move. Where Ireland has a tax treaty, it decides with a tie-breaker, in this order: where your permanent home is, where your personal and economic ties are closer, where you habitually live, and finally nationality. Our nationality guides cover what each country still asks of you.

Count your own days with the tax residence checker. Dual residence, domicile and the remittance basis are what our Premium service is for.

PAYE, USC & PRSI

How the three taxes on your payslip actually work — and where most expats overpay without knowing.

In short: three separate charges come off every Irish payslip, each worked out on a different basis. Income tax (PAYE) is 20% then 40%, reduced by your tax credits; USC and PRSI are charged on gross pay and ignore those credits. Most expat overpayments are credits that were never applied, not a wrong rate.

Income tax: two rates, then your credits

For a single person, the first €44,000 of income is taxed at 20% and everything above it at 40%. The €44,000 is your standard rate cut-off point (€53,000 for a married couple with one income). From that bill, your tax credits come off euro for euro: a PAYE employee gets the personal credit (€2,000) and the employee credit (€2,000), so €4,000 a year. They are given for the whole calendar year even if you only worked part of it, which is why arrival and departure years so often end in a refund.

USC: a second charge, with no credits

The Universal Social Charge is worked out on your gross income in bands: 0.5% on the first €12,012, 2% up to €28,700, 3% up to €70,044 and 8% above that. Tax credits do not reduce it. If your total income for the year is €13,000 or less you pay none at all; one euro over brings your whole income into charge.

PRSI: your social insurance

Class A employees pay 4.2% of gross pay, rising to 4.35% from 1 October 2026 and 4.5% from 1 October 2027, a legislated schedule rather than a Budget measure. PRSI is not reduced by credits or pension contributions and, unlike income tax, is not refunded through a tax return; it builds your record for the State Pension and benefits. Our note on the October 2026 PRSI change shows what it means on a payslip.

One consequence: a pension contribution lowers your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

Where expats overpay

• Emergency tax. Your employer taxes you from a Revenue Payroll Notification (RPN). Until one exists you get no credits at all and, after four weeks, 40% on everything, plus USC at a flat 8%. A first job in Ireland must be registered by you in myAccount; once it is, the RPN issues and the refund comes back through payroll. See emergency tax and how to fix it or our Emergency Tax Refund service.
• "Week 1" basis left running. Each payslip stands alone and nothing recalculates, so an overpayment stays with Revenue until you file a return. A correct payslip says "Cumulative" and shows your cut-off and credits.
• A missing credit. The employee credit is the one most often absent from a new arrival's record.
• Two jobs, one set of credits. Unless you split credits and rate band between employers in myAccount, the second job is taxed at 40% from the first euro.

Whatever went wrong, the current year is fixed in myAccount and past years are claimed with an Income Tax Return, going back four years. Budget 2027 moves the cut-off to €46,500 and each credit to €2,125 from January 2027, subject to the Finance Bill.

See what your salary should net with the salary after tax calculator. If your payslip doesn't match what a correct one shows, a Payslip Review finds out why and gets it fixed with Revenue.

Tax credits & reliefs

The Rent Tax Credit, medical expenses, remote working relief, flat rate expenses and more — what to claim and how.

In short: beyond the personal and employee credits, Revenue gives nothing automatically. Rent, medical costs, remote working, pension and your occupation's allowance all have to be claimed, for up to the four most recent tax years. This chapter is where most expat refunds come from.

Credits and deductions are not the same thing

A credit comes off your income tax bill euro for euro, as long as you paid at least that much tax in the year. A deduction comes off taxable income, so it is worth your marginal rate: 20% or 40% of the amount. Neither touches USC or PRSI.

Rent Tax Credit

If you rent your home privately, the credit is 20% of the rent you paid, capped at €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple in 2026 (half that for 2022 and 2023). Budget 2027 raises it to €1,150 and €2,300 from 2027, subject to the Finance Bill. Revenue expects the tenancy to be RTB-registered and may ask for the RT number and proof of what you paid; HAP tenants and anyone renting from a parent are excluded. See the Rent Tax Credit guide, or let us claim it.

Medical and dental expenses

Relief at 20% on what you paid and were not reimbursed for: GP and consultant fees, prescribed medicines, hospital charges, physiotherapy on a doctor's referral, maternity and fertility treatment, for yourself or anyone else. Routine dental and optical do not qualify; non-routine dental (crowns, root canals, braces) does, with a Form Med 2 from the dentist. Nursing home fees are the exception, relieved at your highest rate, up to 40%. Details in medical expenses tax relief.

Remote working relief

Deduct 30% of your electricity, heating and broadband bills, apportioned by the days you worked from home. It is modest: a couple of days a week is usually a few dozen euro a year, and any allowance your employer pays (up to €3.20 a day) comes off first. See remote working relief.

Flat rate expenses

A fixed deduction set by Revenue for your occupation (nurses, teachers, hospitality staff, tradespeople and many others), no receipts required; the figure is worth 20% or 40% of itself and depends on your sub-category, not your job title. Check your tax credit certificate each year rather than assuming last year's claim carried over. Our flat rate expenses guide lists the main occupations.

Four years, one hard deadline

• Each year is claimed with its own Income Tax Return in myAccount; the refund goes to the bank account on your record.
• In 2026 the open years are 2022 to 2025; 2022 closes for good on 31 December 2026.
• Keep receipts, Form Med 2 and referral letters for six years; Revenue can ask after paying.

Pension and AVC contributions are relieved at your marginal rate, up to an age-based share of earnings (15% under 30 to 40% at 60) on earnings capped at €115,000; a contribution paid by 31 October can count for the previous year. See AVC and pension relief. Tuition fees and smaller credits round out the top Irish tax deductions for 2026.

Try the refund calculator, or the medical expenses and work-from-home and pension relief calculators. Our Tax Back service reviews all four years at once: no refund, no fee.

Deadlines that matter

Form 11, Form 12, CGT payment dates, and how far back you can claim refunds (spoiler: four years).

In short: most PAYE employees have no filing deadline, only a four-year window to claim refunds, and its oldest year closes every 31 December. 31 October belongs to people who self-assess. CGT runs on its own calendar: payment first, return later.

The four-year refund window

You can claim credits and reliefs, or correct an overpayment, for the four tax years before the current one: in 2026, 2022 to 2025, each with its own Income Tax Return in myAccount, filed on any day you like. The hard edge is at the end: 2022 closes permanently on 31 December 2026, with no appeal; 2023 closes on 31 December 2027, and so on. Our 2022 deadline guide covers what to check before it shuts.

31 October: the self-assessment date

If you are a chargeable person (self-employed, a landlord, a company director, or an employee with meaningful rental, foreign or investment income), you file a Form 11 by 31 October of the following year. Three things fall due together: last year's return, the balance of last year's tax, and preliminary tax for this year. Filing and paying through ROS extends the date (18 November in 2026); paying another way does not. Late filing costs a surcharge of 5% of the tax due, 10% after two months, plus interest. Our Form 11 guide sets out who is caught.

An employee claiming the Rent Tax Credit or medical expenses is not on this deadline. That filing, once "Form 12", is the PAYE Income Tax Return in myAccount; it carries up to €5,000 of other taxable income and has no deadline beyond the four-year window. See Form 12 explained.

CGT: pay first, file later

CGT on shares, crypto or property is paid before any return exists:

• Sold between 1 January and 30 November: pay by 15 December 2026.
• Sold in December: pay by 31 January 2027.
• The return for the year's disposals is due by 31 October 2027, even when losses or the annual exemption mean no tax is payable.

Paying in December and forgetting the return in October is the classic mistake; the surcharge still applies. Details in capital gains tax in Ireland.

Two more 31 October dates

• Gifts and inheritances (CAT): pay and file by 31 October of the year the valuation date falls in if it is 1 January to 31 August, or of the next year if it is 1 September to 31 December; the ROS extension applies. See inheritance tax explained.
• Pension contributions paid by 31 October (mid-November on ROS) can be set against last year's income, within your age-based limit: the one way to reopen a closed tax bill.

Dates that are not deadlines

The Budget (early October) announces next year's rates and the Finance Bill confirms them in December; the PRSI step-up each 1 October reaches your payslip by itself. Your Employment Detail Summary for a year appears in myAccount in January, the earliest you can file for it, which makes January or February the best time to claim.

Not sure whether you owe a Form 11? Our Tax Return service settles it and files for you. The refund calculator shows what the open years might be worth; the 2026 tax calendar has every date in one place.

CGT for shares & crypto

The 31% rate (33% before 7 October 2026), the €1,270 annual exemption, and the paperwork Revenue expects if you traded.

In short: capital gains tax is 31% on gains from disposals on or after 7 October 2026 (33% before), after a €1,270 annual exemption. The rate is the easy part. The traps are the order you are deemed to sell in, the return people skip when no tax is due, and the fact that ETFs are not under CGT at all.

Rate, exemption and netting

The gain is what you sold for minus what you paid, both in euro at the time. Losses in the year come off first, then the €1,270 exemption, then 31% on what is left. The exemption is per person, cannot be shared with a spouse and does not carry forward: unused, it is gone. Unused losses do carry forward, but you claim them on the return for the year you use them; nothing is applied for you. Development land stays at 33%.

What counts as a disposal

• A sale, in euro or any other currency, converted at that day's rate.
• A swap: one crypto for another, or into a stablecoin, is a disposal even though no cash arrives.
• A gift to anyone other than your spouse or civil partner.
• Selling your main home is a disposal too, but principal private residence relief usually exempts it.

FIFO, the four-week rule and RSUs

When you sell part of a holding bought in several tranches, Ireland treats the oldest units as sold first (FIFO), whatever your broker reports. For shares, units bought in the four weeks before a sale are matched first, and a loss on shares you buy back within four weeks can only be set against those shares. RSUs are taxed as salary through payroll when they vest; that vesting value becomes your base cost, and only growth after it is CGT. Our RSU guide and crypto tax guide have worked examples.

Pay by December, file by October

CGT is paid before any return exists: by 15 December 2026 for sales from January to November, by 31 January 2027 for December sales. The return (CG1, or your Form 11) is due by 31 October 2027, and it is required even when losses or the exemption mean nothing is owed. Skipping it is the most common CGT mistake we see, and it costs a surcharge.

ETFs are not CGT

ETFs and most funds fall under exit tax instead: 38% in 2026 and 35% from 1 January 2027 (as announced in Budget 2027, subject to the Finance Bill), with no annual exemption, no loss relief against other gains, and a deemed disposal every 8 years whether you sell or not. Budget 2027 also announced an Irish Investment Account from July 2027: 1% a year on the value above €50,000, up to €12,000 in a year, no deemed disposal. See exit tax explained.

Records

Keep the date, quantity, euro value and fees of every purchase and sale for as long as you hold the asset and six years after. For crypto that means every swap valued in euro at the moment it happened, not at year end. If you arrived in Ireland with assets, note their value and your residence date: ordinary residence can keep you in Irish CGT for three years after you leave (Chapter 1).

Work out a gain with the CGT calculator, a vest with the RSU calculator, or a fund with the exit tax calculator. Our CGT Review rebuilds the history, applies the exemption and files the return on time.

Moving in & moving out

Split Year Treatment, double-tax treaties and how to claim what you are owed if you leave.

In short: the year you arrive and the year you leave are the two most likely to produce a refund, because payroll spreads a full year of credits over twelve months while you only worked some of them. Your visa changes nothing about tax; your residence (Chapter 1) decides everything, and you have four years to claim either year, from anywhere in the world.

Arriving: the order that avoids emergency tax

• PPSN first (Department of Social Protection, via MyWelfare), then register for myAccount with it.
• Register the job yourself in myAccount ("Add Job or Pension") with your employer's registration number and start date. A first job in Ireland cannot be registered by the employer.
• Revenue then issues the RPN your employer taxes you from. Until it exists you are on emergency tax (no credits, 40% on everything after four weeks); once it arrives on a cumulative basis the overpayment comes back through your payslip. See emergency tax.
• If you arrive after July, consider the election to be resident (Chapter 1). Split-year treatment then keeps the salary you earned abroad before arriving outside Irish tax while you still get the full year's credits; it covers employment income only.

EU/EEA citizens hit emergency tax as often as anyone on a permit: the process is identical. What EU membership does change is social security: under EU coordination rules you pay contributions in one country at a time, normally where you work, and an A1 form proves it if you are posted. Our non-EU workers guide covers the permit side.

Leaving: full-year credits against a part-year salary

• Claim after your final payslip, with an Income Tax Return for the departure year; you can file it from abroad.
• Keep an Irish bank account open until the refund lands, or update the IBAN in myAccount before you go: with no account on record, Revenue posts a cheque.
• Download your Employment Detail Summary for every open year and keep myAccount access (MyGovID works from abroad).
• Split-year treatment on departure keeps employment income earned abroad after you leave out of Irish tax; rental and investment income stay in. Ordinary residence follows you for three years, so a share sale after leaving can still be an Irish CGT event (Chapter 1).

Treaties, and your home country

Ireland has double taxation agreements with 78 countries, 75 in effect, covering the EU/EEA and most major economies, but not Brazil, the Philippines or Nigeria: without a treaty, residence alone decides what each country can tax. The paperwork at home is country-specific: AIRE registration for Italians, Modelo 720 for Spaniards on the way back, French savings products that lose their French treatment here. One page per country in our tax guides by nationality.

Check your status with the tax residence checker. Leaving soon or already gone? Our Leaving Ireland refund service files the departure year and any open years before you lose track of the paperwork.