Income tax in Ireland 2026: 20% and 40%, residence at 183 or 280 days

Ireland has a residence test that looks backwards. Under section 819 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, summarised in Revenue's manual (Part 34-00-01), you are resident for a tax year if you are present in the State for at least 183 days in that year, or at least 280 days in total across that year and the previous one. This is the look-back rule. That second test has its own filter: with 30 days or fewer in a year, you are not resident for that year and those days are ignored in the two-year total. A day counts if you are present at any time during it, unless you remain airside in an airport or port throughout. The counter's example shows it: 150 days in 2025, then 131 in 2026, 281 in all, and you are resident in 2026 without ever reaching 183 in a single year.

2026 rates, and what the tax credit changes

Single person, standard band published for 2026, before tax credits.

The 20% standard rate stops at a cut-off that depends on your circumstances, and Revenue publishes these for 2026:

The increase is capped at the lower of €35,000 or the income of the lower earner. Then comes the Irish feature: a tax credit comes off the tax, not off the income. In 2026, a single person has a €2,000 personal credit and, as an employee, a €2,000 Employee PAYE credit. The Earned Income Credit, for other earned income, has the same maximum.

USC: a second scale that is easy to forget

The Universal Social Charge has its own thresholds for 2026: 0.5% on the first €12,012, 2% on the next €16,688, 3% on the next €41,344, and 8% on the balance. Revenue says that total income over €13,000 pays USC on the full income, with some types of income exempt. Revenue also provides for a reduced rate depending on your circumstances, and we give the standard scale here. Here is a calculation on those figures alone, for a single employee with only the personal and PAYE credits, without PRSI, which we have not read:

Three separate statuses: resident, ordinarily resident, domiciled

Revenue treats these three words separately, and combining them changes what is taxed. Resident and domiciled: all worldwide income and gains. Resident but not domiciled: Irish income, and foreign income only as far as it is remitted to Ireland (the remittance basis), except for foreign employment income tied to work done in the State. Neither resident nor ordinarily resident: Irish source income and work done in the State.

Ordinary residence is the one that catches people on departure. It starts at the beginning of the fourth year, after three consecutive years of residence, and ends only after three consecutive years of non-residence. During that time, a domiciled person stays taxable on worldwide income, except income from a trade carried on wholly abroad, from employment wholly outside the State apart from incidental duties, and other foreign income of up to €3,810. That last limit is a cliff: above it, everything is taxable, not only the excess. A treaty may still exempt part of it.

What moves the day count

The counter covers the mechanics: 183 or 280 days, the 30-day filter, the calendar year. Four points stay in your hands. Force majeure first: if you are prevented from leaving on your intended day by an extraordinary natural event or a third-party failure that could not be foreseen or avoided, the following day is not counted, according to the manual. Election next: you can choose to be resident for a year if you satisfy a Revenue officer that you will be resident in the next one, usually to get full tax credits. It is made in writing and cannot be withdrawn. Incidental work too: fewer than 30 days of duties in the State in a tax year may generally count as incidental for an ordinarily resident person working abroad, subject to the facts. And a dispute over residence can be appealed within two months of the notified decision.

Arriving or leaving mid-year: split-year treatment

Split-year treatment applies only to employment income. You are then treated as resident for part of the year of arrival or departure, for that income alone. A posted employee may ask for a PAYE Exclusion Order, and someone leaving for good may claim a refund if the standard band and credits for the year are not used up, through an income tax return. If you let out your Irish home while away, the rent stays taxable whatever your residence. A director of an Irish company is taxable on that office, subject to a treaty.

When two countries claim you

Revenue's manual points out that a treaty does not create tax; it allocates taxing rights. The test runs in this order: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, then mutual agreement. Pensions and other income have to be read treaty by treaty, and Revenue itself says they are not uniform. See dual tax residency, the UK rule if you go back and forth between the two, and the country table. Since the look-back reuses last year, your dates from last year still matter: the Taxlag app keeps them from one year to the next. Checking 280 days in December is often too late to act, and a two-year record is easier to keep while it is fresh.