Questions and Answers
What expenses can I claim in my tax return?
I am organising my receipts for my 2023 Tax Return but unsure what expenses I can claim?
What expenses can be claimed:
- Any goods that you buy for resale
- Employees' pay
- Rent and bills for your business premises
- Running costs for vehicles or machines that you use in your business
- Lease payments for vehicles or machines that you use in your business
- Accountancy fees
- Interest payments for money you borrowed to finance your business
- Expenses you had before your business started trading such as the cost of preparing business plans
- Advertising expenses
- Legal fees related to running the business.
What expenses cannot be claimed:
- Personal mileage expenses
- Food expenses – in the case of an employee on a business trip whereby they incur food costs, an allowance may be given to cover these costs
- Clothing costs (except protective clothing)
- Accommodation – hotel accommodation incurred on a business trip is an allowable deduction
- Client entertainment
- Capital expenditure – e.g. purchase of equipment. You may be able to claim capital allowances on this expenditure
Expenses that are for both business and private use
Tax Credits
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Frequently Asked Questions
For those that use Revenue Online Services (ROS) the pay & file deadline is Thursday 14 November 2024.
If you make any money outside of your normal PAYE income from your job then you need to file a self-assessment tax return each year. The form you need to file is called a Form 11.
Some common reasons you may need to file a tax return include; you are self-employed, work freelance or as a contractor, you are a landlord or make money using Airbnb, you are the director of a company, you own shares, you have sold a personal asset or sold all or part of your business, you have inherited money, you make some extra cash doing nixers.
The form you fill in to file a self-assessment tax return in Ireland is called a Form 11. People use the terms tax return and Form 11 interchangeably.
You can file a Form 11 tax return yourself with Revenue online using Revenue Online Services (ROS) or you can engage an accountant to file on your behalf.
An allowable expense is an expense that is directly related to the running of your business. For example goods that you buy for resale, employees' payment, rent and bills for your business premises, interest payments for money you borrowed to finance your business.
Tax Credits reduce the amount of tax that you pay. The tax credits you are entitled to are dependent upon your personal circumstances.
Another great way to save money on your tax bill is to pay into a pension. The government offers generous tax relief at your highest tax rate.
You can pay the tax you owe online through ROS with a debit or credit card.
In order to fulfil your preliminary tax obligations for 2024, a payment should be made along with the filing of your 2023 tax return. Preliminary tax is an estimate of the tax you will owe on next year’s tax return.
You have three options when deciding what level of preliminary tax you should pay:
- Based upon 100% of your 2023 tax charge.
- Based upon 90% of your 2024 tax charge (this will need to be an estimate at the time of filing the return).
- 105% of your final tax charge for the pre-preceding tax year (2022). This option is only available where preliminary tax is paid by monthly direct debit.
If you miss the tax return deadline there are a number of consequences. You will be charged interest and a late filing surcharge.
Filing late can increase the likelihood that you will be chosen to be audited by Revenue and uou could lose your entitlement to government grants and subsidies as businesses must be entitled to a tax clearance certificate to qualify for these schemes. If you have missed the deadline the most important thing is to get the return filed as soon as possible.
Date published 30 Sep 2020 | Last updated 26 Sep 2024
This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.
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