Form 11 is Revenue’s annual self-assessment income tax return. It is due on 31st October every year, or mid-November if you file online via Revenue Online Services (ROS).
Who must file a Form 11 with Irish Revenue?
As well as ‘chargeable persons’ (see a comprehensive explanation from Revenue of who is considered a chargeable person (PDF)), this form is mandatory for sole traders and proprietary directors.
Sole traders and Form 11
Form 11 covers freelancers, sole traders, and individuals running their own business where their salary is the profit from their turnover for the year minus expenses (i.e., their taxes are the 40% or 50% they pay on their income/profit via this return).
Proprietary directors and Form 11
Form 11 also covers business owners who are proprietary directors of their companies (beneficial owners, holding more than 15% of the ordinary share capital of the company). It’s important to note that proprietary directors must file a Form 11 tax return even if they don’t receive a salary OR if their salary is their ONLY income.
If they don’t file, or file late, they are exposed to a surcharge without a credit for PAYE deducted at source. Let’s take an example of a proprietary director who paid €38,000 in payroll taxes, but their final liability at the end of the year was only €37,500. In theory, they’re due a refund of €500. However, if the return is filed late, the entire tax amount of €38,000 becomes surchargeable at 10%.
Non-proprietary directors and Form 11
If a director owns less than 15% of ordinary share capital and their only income is PAYE, they do not need to file a Form 11 return. However, if they have any other income (from dividends, rental income, etc.) they will need to file a return. A large part of their income has already been covered by PAYE but there is some extra information that will need to be submitted to Revenue and this is done via the Form 11.
Personal income tax in Ireland
In Ireland, an individual can earn up to €44,00 at our lowest rate of income tax, 20%. Depending on your personal circumstances (lone parents, married couple with one income, married couple with two incomes), this cut-off point may be for a higher amount. Anything you earn above this band will be taxed at 40%.
Typically, we’d recommend that anyone who is a shareholding director of a company puts themselves on the payroll for a salary around their relevant cut-off point. It’s appropriate to be paid a salary for involvement in the company and gives a monthly income for paying bills and other expenses without onerous personal tax.
But if proprietary directors need more than this, or have profits that they want to take out of the business, it’s worth thinking through whether this should come out as a salary. The higher (40%) rate of tax for more significant salaries makes it worth considering other more tax-efficient options. There is also USC of up to 8% and PRSI of 4%, bringing the top rate above 50%.
(While on the subject of salaries, don’t forget the business can pay any employee on the payroll, including directors and shareholders, up to €1,500 completely tax-free thanks to the Small Benefit Scheme.)
Pension funds and tax breaks in Ireland
Pensions are a tax-efficient ways to extract value from a business and both business owners and sole traders benefit from making pension contributions. Your company can pay into a pension scheme for you rather than paying the amount as salary. There are two main types: Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs), which are simpler and cheaper to set up and occupational pension schemes, which have higher admin costs but more flexibility.
You get tax relief on personal contributions up to age-based limits (15% to 40% of earnings, capped at €115,000). The company can also make employer contributions on top of this, which are corporation tax deductible at 12.5% and don’t count toward your personal limits. From January 2025, employer contributions to PRSAs are capped at 100% of your salary – anything above that is treated as a Benefit in Kind (BIK). There’s also a limit on the total amount you can save. Occupational schemes don’t have the same restrictions. If you’re planning significant employer contributions above your salary level, an occupational scheme avoids this cap.
Sole traders or directors paying into their personal pension (not company schemes paid into by employers) can make personal pension contributions after year-end and still claim relief against the previous year’s tax. That means you can contribute now in October 2025 and offset it against your 2024 income when filing your 2024 Form 11, as long as you make the contribution and the election by the filing deadline.
N.B. The government is bringing in the auto-enrolment pension scheme, My Future Fund, from January 2026 as well. This is the moment to get tailored advice about proprietary director retirement planning.
Maximising your business expenses
Another thing we advise proprietary directors to do is to make sure that they maximise their expenses, because it doesn’t make sense to be out of pocket for costs that benefit the business. If there is a business case for your spending, you are legitimately entitled to claim it back. Examples of expenses might be travel or use of a personal car.
If you do travel in your personal car, make sure you stick to the civil service rates that are published by Revenue. They aren’t as generous as they were in the past, but you should still claim them. We do recommend you keep a log of journeys and reimburse the mileage monthly rather than arriving at a rounded calculation that you balance up at the end of the year.
Home working has become commonplace since the pandemic. If you rent your home and you work from there, it’s reasonable to claim that as an expense. Let’s say you rent a four-bedroom house and use one bedroom as your office, you could charge the company up to 25% of your rent. The key is to be reasonable here. If that same room is only used for business half of the time, reduce the percentage you claim. Of course, the business should be paying for anything that allows you to work as if you are in the office – a computer, phone, printer, etc.
The eWorking scheme allows an employer to pay employees who work from home a daily sum of €3.20 tax-free (we’ve covered this in detail in this blog on the eWorking scheme). If the business didn’t pay you for working from home, then you can absolutely claim this tax relief yourself when you submit your Form 11. Remember this is for days that you worked from home instead of the office – the blog I just mentioned explains what Revenue considers to be “eWorking” for the purposes of this scheme.
You can either claim the actual expenses incurred or the €3.20 tax relief per day, but you cannot claim both. You also can only claim if your employer hasn’t already reimbursed you.
Common tax credits, allowances, reliefs, and expenses
If you rent your principal private residence or another property you use to facilitate your attendance at work, you may qualify for the Rent Tax Credit. It is worth up to a maximum of €2,000 per year for jointly assessed married couples or civil partners and €1,000 in all other cases, including single people. It is only available for tenancies that meet Revenue’s conditions, including being properly registered and not involving close family landlords. Parents paying rent for a child in college accommodation can also claim the credit in some cases.
Landlords deducting legitimate expenses can reduce taxable rental income by significant amounts. For example: maintenance, repairs, insurance, letting-agent fees, property management, the registration fees with the Residential Tenancies Board, and other costs of letting can all be offset against your rental income.
If your business pays medical or dental insurance premiums for you or your family as a BIK, you will be taxed on the gross value of the policy (or policies) and may be able to claim medical insurance tax relief. You should keep the insurer’s or employer’s certificate showing the premium paid to support your claim.
You can also claim tax relief on qualifying health expenses that you have paid and that were not reimbursed by insurance or the HSE. Relief is generally given at 20% of the eligible costs. Typical qualifying expenses include specialist consultations, certain therapies, prescribed treatments, and approved medical equipment. Routine dental treatments like fillings and standard extractions do not qualify. All receipts must be kept for six years in case Revenue reviews your return.
There are other schemes which may be relevant to you, such as Employment Investment Incentive (EII) or Start-Up Relief for Entrepreneurs (SURE). That’s why it makes sense to have a financial expert review your situation and ensure you are claiming every credit and relief available to you. They will check your return to ensure nothing has slipped through the cracks and help you with tax planning. At Beyond, Form 11 filings cost a few hundred euros (it varies depending on your situation) for peace of mind and potentially much more gained in tax efficiencies.
