Lines 16 to 21 — Residence status
THIS section of the Form 11 may be of interest to readers who have moved here from abroad. In general, individuals who are resident in Ireland, have lived all their lives in the country and are from Ireland are taxable on their world-wide income and this is assumed to be the case unless you tick the boxes at lines 16, 17 or 18.
You will be regarded as resident in Ireland in the year 2016 if you spent: 183 days or more in Ireland, for any purpose, in 2016, or 280 days or more in Ireland combining the number of days spent in Ireland in 2016 and 2015. However, this test will not apply to make you resident if you spent 30 days or less in Ireland in 2016.
Caution — A day is one on which you are present in Ireland at any time during the day. So, for example, an early morning flight to London must still be counted as a day here.
LINE 17 — THE REMITTANCE BASIS OF TAXATION I CAME TO LIVE IN IRELAND FROM ABROAD A FEW YEARS AGO. DO I HAVE ANY SPECIAL TAX STATUS IN IRELAND IF I HAVE NON-IRISH INCOME? TOP TIP
IF YOU are not originally from Ireland (i.e. you are not domiciled* in Ireland) but are resident here you should ensure that you tick the box at line 17 as you are entitled to a potentially favourable tax regime called the remittance basis of taxation.
*Domicile is a complex legal concept. It may, broadly, be interpreted as meaning permanent home in a particular country with the intention of residing permanently in that country. An individual acquires a domicile of origin on their birth. Whilst each individual has a domicile, that domicile may or may not be the country in which he or she is a tax resident.
This means that certain types of foreign sourced income is liable to income tax here only if it is remitted to Ireland. For example, let’s say you received dividends from a non-Irish company in 2016, then the dividends would only be taxable in Ireland to the extent they were remitted (e.g. a bank wire transfer) to Ireland in 2016.
However, it is important to note that this basis of taxation does not apply to foreign employment income to the extent it is attributable to your work duties performed in Ireland. Such income is taxable in full under the PAYE system whether or not remitted.