Starting a business in Ireland
A sole trade begins with a Revenue registration, a company costs €50 - the Irish subtleties are the VAT thresholds and what the 12.5% rate does not cover.
Checked against the sources on 2026-08-30
Before anything else
Ireland’s founding mechanics are among the lightest in Europe: a sole trader registers for income tax through Revenue’s ROS/myAccount, registers a business name with the CRO only if trading under one (€20), and is in business. A private limited company (LTD) is a €50 online filing at the CRO with no minimum capital.
The famous 12.5% corporation tax deserves its footnote up front: it applies to trading income of a company. It does not apply to sole traders (personal rates up to 40% plus USC and PRSI), nor to a company’s passive income, and taking money out of the company is taxed again as salary or dividend. The rate is real; it is just not a personal tax rate.
The legal shell
Sole trader or LTD?
Sole trader
Starting small and simple.
€0 (plus €20 for a registered business name if used).
Full personal rates on profit, personal liability, and preliminary tax in year one - the pay-ahead system that catches everyone once.
LTD
Growth, clients that require a company, or profits worth retaining at 12.5%.
€50 CRO filing; no minimum capital.
A company needs at least one EEA-resident director (or a €25,000 insurance bond), a company secretary, and annual returns whose late-filing penalties escalate fast.
The sequence
Register with Revenue
Where: ros.ie (TR1 form for sole traders, TR2 for companies)Cost: €0
This starts income tax (or corporation tax) and optionally VAT and employer registrations in one form. A PPS number is the prerequisite for individuals.
CRO filings where needed
Where: core.cro.ie
Business name registration (€20) if trading under anything but your own name; company incorporation (€50, form A1) for an LTD - typically back within a week.
Watch the two VAT thresholds
Registration is compulsory at €42,500 for services or €85,000 for goods (raised in 2025). Under them you may stay out; over them registration is not optional. Cross-border digital sales to consumers follow the EU €10,000 OSS rules as everywhere.
Meet preliminary tax before it meets you
By 31 October you pay preliminary tax for the current year and the balance for the last - meaning year two contains close to two years of tax. The safe-harbour options (90% of current or 100% of prior liability) are the planning tool.
Watch out: This is the Irish trap. Nothing about registration warns you that October of year two is the expensive month.
What it costs to start
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sole trader | €0-20 |
| LTD incorporation | €50 |
| Accountant for a companyAnnual returns and CT filings make this near-universal. | €1,000-2,500/year |
| Non-EEA director bondOnly when no EEA-resident director exists. | ~€2,000 for two years |
The words on the forms
- CRO
- The Companies Registration Office - names and companies.
- ROS
- Revenue Online Service - every tax filing.
- TR1 / TR2
- The registration forms for individuals and companies.
- PPSN
- The personal identifier everything needs.
- Preliminary tax
- The pay-ahead instalment due each 31 October.
- USC / PRSI
- The levies that sit on top of income tax for the self-employed.
- Form A1
- The company incorporation filing.
The traps
- October of year two - preliminary tax plus the balance.
- Believing the 12.5% applies to freelance income.
- Missing a CRO annual return and losing the audit exemption for two years.
- Registering for VAT "to look bigger" while selling to consumers.
Where to check this yourself
- RevenueRegistration, thresholds, preliminary tax.
- CROCompanies and business names.
- Citizens InformationPlain-language self-employment guides.
This is a map, not legal or tax advice - and an honest one about how it was drawn: the Germany guide was written by a person who walked the route; most other countries were drafted with AI against the official sources and have not yet been walked by someone who did it. Laws change. Every guide carries the date it was last checked and the sources to check it yourself - and if you have been through one of these routes, your corrections are exactly what this handbook wants.