Top 5 Tax Mistakes When filing Your Tax Returns Ireland

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Missing Deadlines 🗓️

Income Tax (Form 11) deadline - 31 October in the year following the prior calendar year i.e. 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2024. Return is due by 31 October 2025.

If you file via ROS (99% of people), the return date is 14 November 2025.

Overlooking  Refundable Tax Credits 💶:

1. Rent Credit - €750 for an individual and €1,500 for a jointly assessed couple.

2. Tuition credit - 20% on qualifying tuition fees for full-time courses. The first €3K is disregarded for calculating the credit.

Medical Expenses 🏥:

You can claim 20% of qualifying medical expenses that are not covered by your health insurance. 

Example - your root canal 🦷 costs €600. VHI cover 50% (€300). You can claim a further refund of (€600-€300=€300*20%) €60.

Pre-trade expenditure 🏢:

You start a sole trade or a company, you can carry forward expenses you incurred prior to trading to reduce future profits

Example - Mike incurs €10,000 of pre -trade expenses. These include salaries, rent and web design costs👇

Pre-trade expenditure 🏢:

Mike begins trading and makes €20K profit in year 1.

Mike can carry forward these qualifying pre-trade expenses and reduce his profit by 50%

€20K Profit - €10K pre-trade loss = €10K taxable profit.

Nursing Home Fees 🏡

You can reduce your income by the amount of qualifying nursing home expenses. 

Example - Leanne pays €18K in nursing home fees for her dad. She earns €60K annually and is single assessed. Continued below 👇

Nursing Home Fees 🏡

Leanne can reduce her portion of income that is taxed at the higher rate (40% on income above €42K) by the amount of qualifying fees paid.

€60K - €42K = €18K * 40% = €7.2K refund.