Filing Dates

Pay and File

Under Self-Assessment there is a common date for the payment of tax and filing of Tax Returns which is on or before 31 October in the year following the year of assessment.

This system, which is known as Pay and File allows you to file your return and pay the balance of tax outstanding for the previous year at the same time.

Under this system you must complete the following by 31 October:

Pay Preliminary Tax for the current tax year (see below).
Submit your Tax Return for the previous year.
Pay any balance of tax due for the previous tax year.
Make any pension top up payments.

Preliminary Tax

The amount of Preliminary Tax you must pay to avoid interest charges is the lower of:

90% of your final liability for the current tax year, or
100% of your final liability to tax for the immediately previous year, or
105% of your final liability for the year preceding the immediately previous year. This option is only available where you authorise the Collector-General to collect tax by direct debit. The 105% rule does not apply where the tax payable for the pre-preceding year is NIL.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Failure to submit your tax return by 31 October after the end of the tax year will result in a surcharge being added to your tax bill for the year.

The surcharge is:

5% of the tax up to a maximum of €12,695 where the return is made within 2 months of the return filing date,
10% of the tax up to a maximum of €63,485 where the return is made more than 2 months after the return filing date.