Trading income is taxed at 12.5%, passive income at 25%, and the classification is a question of substance. Where the line falls and why it is worth settling early.
- Trading vs passive income split
- Audit exemption thresholds
- What's the minimum share capital to form a private limited company in Ireland?
For companies below the Pillar Two threshold, the more consequential structural fact is that the 12.5% rate applies only to trading income; passive income — rents, most investment income — is taxed at 25%, and dividend distributions carry a separate 25% dividend withholding tax at source, subject to a wide set of exemptions for resident companies, pension funds, and EU or treaty parents. A further layer, the Knowledge Development Box, taxes qualifying IP income at an effective 10% rate through accounting periods commencing before 1 January 2027, making Ireland's real corporate tax position a function of income type and group size rather than a single published number.
What it takes to incorporate in Ireland. Every figure below is published on the Ireland country page.
| Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Legal forms | LTD (Private Company Limited by Shares) · DAC · PLC |
| Minimum share capital | LTD: none required (typically 100 shares of €1) · PLC: €25,000 |
| Company registry | Companies Registration Office (CRO) |
| Incorporation timeline | 3–10 working days for an LTD with a standard constitution |
| Official language | English (Irish also official; used in law, not commercial practice) |
What makes it complex in Ireland
- Trading vs passive income split — — the 12.5% rate applies only to trading income; rental and most investment income is taxed at 25%, requiring income to be correctly classified at source.
- Audit exemption thresholds — raised July 2024 — small company: turnover ≤ €15M, balance sheet ≤ €7.5M, ≤ 50 employees (2 of 3 criteria, both current and prior year); losing the exemption now requires two late CRO filings within five years, not one.
What's the minimum share capital to form a private limited company in Ireland?
There is no statutory minimum — a single share is sufficient to incorporate, and many companies start with 100 ordinary shares of €1 each. A public limited company (PLC), by contrast, requires €25,000 in share capital.
Trading vs passive income split is one of the points HTLC Network handles for clients operating in Ireland, within a single engagement that covers every other country they operate in — executed locally, governed centrally.
In Ireland the scope is: LTD, DAC and PLC incorporation, Companies Registration Office (CRO) filing, and post-formation compliance setup.
See Company Formation & Entity Setup in Ireland for the full scope, or the Ireland country page for the statutory framework across every service.
Figures as published on the HTLC Network country pages, reviewed September 2026 and collected from public sources. They are not a substitute for advice on a specific case and should be verified before being relied on.