Ireland · Tax regime
Non-domiciled remittance basis of assessment
Open
Last verified July 2026
Open, and as of July 2026, still unreformed. Ireland has made no move to follow the UK's lead. The regime applies automatically. There is nothing to elect and no charge to pay.
This is now the sharpest contrast in Europe. The UK gives a new arrival 4 years before taxing worldwide income. Ireland taxes only what you remit, indefinitely, with no charge attached. That is the regime the UK itself ran until April 2025, before dismantling it. For a family whose wealth sits offshore and whose spending needs are modest relative to that wealth, Ireland has quietly become the better English-speaking EU answer. The catch is entry. With the IIP closed, there is no way to buy your way in.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- There is no cost. No remittance basis charge, no minimum stay, and no application. The cost is structural. You must fund your Irish living costs from clean capital and keep the tracing intact.
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- You become Irish tax resident after 183 days in a single year, or 280 days across two consecutive years, with at least 31 days in each.
- Family
- The rule applies individually. Each spouse is assessed on their own domicile
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable. This is a tax regime, not an immigration route. You will need an independent immigration permission, such as EU citizenship, Stamp 0, an employment permit, or Irish descent.
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Irish tax resident but not Irish domiciledforeign income and gains kept outside Irelandclean-capital segregation and contemporaneous tracing records
What can go wrong
- Domicile is a common-law concept, and it is sticky. Long residence, buying a home, schooling children and burial intentions can all erode a claim to foreign domicile. Revenue can challenge it retrospectively, and the burden falls on you. This is not a status you register. It is a position you defend.
- Foreign employment income for duties performed in Ireland falls outside the remittance basis and is taxed in full. The regime shelters investment income and gains, not your salary.
- Remittance is broadly defined. Foreign credit cards used in Ireland, loans secured on offshore assets and funds routed through third countries can all count as remittances. Mixed funds must be traced meticulously from day one. Retrofitting the analysis later is expensive and often fails.
- Capital Acquisitions Tax is not escaped by non-domicile. CAT bites on the residence of the disponer or the beneficiary, so a non-dom resident in Ireland can still see gifts and inheritances exposed to 33%.
- Ireland has no exit tax on individuals, but the top marginal rate of ~52% on Irish-source and remitted income is punishing. Ireland is a shelter for offshore capital, not a low-tax country for people who earn.
- The regime survives at political discretion. It is periodically raised in Irish budget debates, and the UK's abolition has strengthened the argument for reform. There is no grandfathering commitment.