Deposit Interest

Foreign deposit income

The extent to which you are liable to Irish Income Tax on your foreign-sourced deposit interest income  depends on your residence and domicile status. For further information, please see Tax residence.

Note

Foreign-sourced income includes interest from accounts in other EU Member States and from non-EU countries.

If you are Irish resident and domiciled, you are liable to Irish Income Tax on the receipt of foreign income. In general, you will be charged at the standard rate of 20% up to what is known as the standard rate cut off point. Any income earned in excess of that is charged to tax at 40%.

The rate of tax that applies to deposit income depends on the source of the income.

Irish sourced deposit interest

Savings are generally subject to Deposit Interest Retention Tax at a rate of 33%. Examples of savings that are subject to DIRT are savings with an Irish bank, a credit union or An Post. Where applicable, DIRT will be deducted by the deposit taker.

EU sourced deposit interest

Interest on savings with an EU bank or other deposit taker is generally taxed at the same rate as DIRT.

If you are self-assessed

You should include any EU sourced deposit interest on your Income Tax Return (Form 11) in the section 'Foreign Income'. Use Revenue Online Service (ROS) to submit your Form 11. 

If you are a PAYE taxpayer

You can declare EU sourced deposit interest on myAccount, by following these instructions:

  1. Sign in to myAccount. 
  2. Click 'Review your tax for the previous 4 years' under 'PAYE Services'.
  3. Select the tax year for which you would like to submit an Income Tax Return and receive a Statement of Liability. 
  4. Click 'Request' to begin the process
  5. Select 'Complete your Income Tax Return'. 
  6. On the section 'Non-PAYE Income', select 'EU Deposit Interest (excluding UK interest) under 'Foreign Income'.
  7. Input all details of deposit interest received. 
  8. Complete the process, input your password and submit your Income Tax Return. 

Non-EU sourced deposit interest

Non-EU sourced deposit interest including UK accounts, are taxed at the higher of the DIRT rate and your marginal rate of tax. If you are a standard rate taxpayer, your deposit interest is taxed at the DIRT rate. However, if you are a higher rate taxpayer, your interest will be taxed at 40%.

Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) may apply and Universal Social Charge (USC) does not apply to deposit interest whatever its source.