Tax Treaties

Ireland has signed comprehensive double taxation agreements with 56 countries, of which 48 are in effect. The agreements cover direct taxes, which in the case of Ireland are income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax.

Commentary on typical provisions of Irish tax treaties (PDF, 64KB)

The following is a summary of the work underway to negotiate new agreements and to update old agreements:

New agreements with Macedonia and Malta, which were signed on 14 April 2008 and 14 November 2008 respectively came into force on 12 January 2009 and 15 January 2009, respectively. Both treaties are effective from 1 January 2010.
New agreements were signed with Albania (16 October 2009), Bahrain (29 October 2009), Belarus (3 November 2009), Bosnia & Herzegovina (3 November 2009), Georgia (20 November 2008), Moldova (28 May 2009), Serbia (23 September 2009) and Turkey (24 October 2008). Legal procedures to bring the new agreement with Turkey into force were completed by Ireland in December 2008: if as is expected legal procedures are completed by Turkey in 2010, this agreement will come into effect in 2011. The legal procedures to bring the new agreements with Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova and Serbia into force are currently being followed.
Protocols to the existing agreements with Austria and Malaysia were signed on 16 December 2009: The legal procedures to bring these Protocols into force are currently being followed.
Negotiations for new agreements with Armenia, Kuwait, Montenegro, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and for a Protocol to the existing treaty with South Africa have been concluded and are expected to be signed shortly.
Negotiations for new agreements with the following countries are at various stages: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tunisia, and Ukraine.
Negotiations are at various stages for the revision of existing agreements with Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Korea and Pakistan.
It is also planned to initiate negotiations for new agreements with other countries in the course of 2010.

Where a double taxation agreement does not exist with a particular country there are provisions in the Irish Taxes Consolidation Acts (TCA) 1997 which allow unilateral relief against double taxation in respect of certain types of income. The principal provisions granting unilateral relief are as follows:

dividends from foreign subsidiaries:
- credit for withholding tax on dividend payments and for foreign tax paid on the underlying profits out of which the dividends were paid (paragraph 9A and B of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
- pooling and carry-forward of excess foreign tax credits (paragraph 9E of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
- credit for foreign tax on dividends paid by a foreign company that is a member of a group that paid tax on a consolidated basis (paragraph 9G of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
foreign branch profits:
- credit for foreign tax paid by an Irish company on profits of a foreign branch (paragraph 9DA of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
- pooling of excess foreign branch tax credits (paragraph 9FA of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
foreign interest treated as trading income of the company that receives it:
- credit for foreign tax (paragraph 9D of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
- pooling of excess foreign tax credits in respect of interest received from associated companies in countries with which Ireland has a double taxation agreement (paragraph 9F of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
capital gains on foreign assets:
- credit for foreign tax paid on capital gains in countries with which Ireland has a double taxation agreement but where the tax treaty with that country does not cover capital gains tax – Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Pakistan and Zambia (paragraph 9FB of Schedule 24 TCA 1997)
- exemption from tax of capital gains from disposal of shares in foreign trading subsidiary companies resident in an EU or Irish tax agreement country (section 626B TCA 1997)

There are also reliefs granted under the EU "Parent-Subsidiaries Directive" (90/435/EEC) (section 831 TCA 1997), the EU "Interest and Royalties Directive" (2003/49/EC)(section 267G-L TCA 1997), the "EU Mergers Directive" (90/434/EEC) (sections 630-638 TCA 1997) and the EU Arbitration Convention (European Communities Mutual Assistance in the Field of Direct Taxation Regulations 1978) (S.I. 334 of 1978).

The list of Irish double taxation agreements is as follows: (Click on a specific country link to view or download the text of the agreement).

Disclaimer: In the event of any discrepancy between the text obtained from this website and the text in the relevant Statutory Instrument (SI), the text in the SI is the authorative one. Ireland's tax treaties and their SI numbers (PDF, 62KB)

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