A chargeable person for self-assessment purposes is a person who is chargeable to tax on that person’s own account or on another person’s account in respect of a chargeable period.
You're not a chargeable person for a tax year where for that year you only have:
- PAYE income only
- PAYE income and income from non-PAYE sources (e.g. trading income, rents, dividends, and deposit interest), where:
a) Net assessable non-PAYE income (including income subject to DIRT) doesn't exceed €5,000 in a year and is taken into account in determining the individual’s tax credits and standard rate cutoff point for PAYE purposes, or
b) Total gross income from non-PAYE sources (including income subject to DIRT), doesn't exceed €30,000 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
This exception to the general rule does not apply to Company Directors, owning more than 15% of the shareholding in the company. They are obliged to file a tax return Form 11 to the Revenue.
Non-PAYE income includes:
- Income from a Trade, Profession or Vocation
- Deposit Interest
- Irish Rental Income
- Income from Fees, Covenants, or Distributions (incl. Dividends)
- Foreign Income
- Exempt Income (for example, when availing of Rent-a-Room relief)
- Annual Payments (for example, maintenance payments)
If you’re self-employed or earning non-PAYE income, you need to file a tax return each year. Depending on your circumstances, the correct form will either be Form 11 or Form 12.
Form 11
Form 12
If you earn less than €5,000 of income outside of PAYE, you’ll need to file a Form 12 for the previous year’s earnings.
The deadline for filing your Form 12 is 31 October if you’re filing a paper return. If you file and pay online, the deadline is extended to mid-November. When filing Form 12, you’ll need your:
- Personal details (name, address, date of birth)
- PPS Number
- Your Employment Detail Summary (replaces P60)
- Spouse’s Employment Detail Summary (if married and jointly assessed)
- Details of the other income (rental income, foreign income, etc.)
- Details of relevant expenses relating to the income
- Tax Credit Certificate or Details of Tax Credits to be claimed e.g. PAYE credit, personal credit, medical expenses, single parent family credit, etc
Form 12 can also be used to claim a range of tax credits, allowances and reliefs including:
- Flat rate expenses
- Health expenses
- Home carer's tax credit
- Foreign dividends
- Medical insurance relief
- Nursing home expenses
- One-parent-family tax credit
- Owner-occupier relief
Form 11
If your net assessable non-PAYE income is over €5,000 or your total gross income from non-PAYE sources is over €30,000 in a year, you're regarded as a chargeable person for Income tax purposes and you’ll need to register for income tax by completing a Form TR1 (or TR1 (FT)). Once registered, the next step is to file a Form 11 as a ‘chargeable person’ and pay your tax every year for the previous year’s earnings.
If you’re a company director owning more than 15% of the shareholding in the company, you’re also obliged to complete a Revenue Form 11 each year even if all your income is PAYE.
When filling in your Form 11 you’ll need your:
- Personal details – including name, date of birth and PPS number (self and spouse if applicable)
- Details of your PAYE Income – this can be found on your Employment Detail Summary. The relevant details will be your gross pay, tax paid, gross pay for USC and USC paid
- Social Welfare receipts – the total taxable social welfare amounts received during the year
- Trade/Profession/Vocation – including total income, sales, receipts and a breakdown of your total expenses. An accounts extract is required for each trade or profession you have
- Details of losses and capital allowances (carried forward or current)
- Other income (rental income and related expenses, foreign income, deposit interest, dividends, etc.)
- Directorships
- Exempt income
- Maintenance payments
- Pension contributions
- Tax credits, allowances, reliefs and health expenses
- High-income individuals – restriction on specified reliefs
- Chargeable assets disposed of or acquired
You may also have to pay preliminary tax on your Form 11. This is a payment of income tax for the current tax year. Preliminary tax liability can be based on either 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 for the current year and so instead choose to pay 100% of the previous year’s liability, if possible, to guarantee 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. The deadline for both your 2024 tax liability and your 2024 preliminary tax is 31 October 2025.
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