Who is a chargeable person?

You are a chargeable person if you have a PAYE source of income and, either:

• Net assessable non-PAYE income (including income subject to DIRT) of €5,000 or more in a year

or

• Total gross income from non-PAYE sources (including income subject to DIRT), of €30,000 or more in a year. This applies even if you have no tax liability on this income because it is covered or largely covered by losses, capital allowances and other reliefs.

If you are a chargeable person you must file a Form 11 self-assessed tax return for the relevant year. From 2014 if you are a chargeable person you must also pay PRSI at Class K on your assessable income.

You may also have to pay preliminary tax on your Form 11. This is income tax for the current tax year. Preliminary tax liability can be based on 90% of your actual tax liability for the current year or 100% of your tax liability for the previous year.

Most people won’t know their liability so just choose to pay 100% of the previous year’s liability if possible to ensure no additional surcharges or interest. So, for example, if your tax liability for 2023 is €10,000, your preliminary tax for 2024 will be €10,000 also.