Most PAYE workers in Ireland are owed money from Revenue. This site exists to show you exactly what you can claim — before you decide whether to hire anyone.
In practice, across the clients we deal with at D'Emilia Accounting, the pattern is consistent: people who have been PAYE employees for three, four, five years — paying tax correctly every month — have never once submitted a tax return or made a single relief claim. Not because they were dishonest, but because nobody told them they were supposed to.
The Irish tax system is built on a concept called self-assessment of reliefs. Revenue deducts the right PAYE from your paycheck. But the reliefs — the legitimate deductions for medical expenses, tuition fees, working from home, health insurance, flat rate expenses — those require you to claim them. Revenue doesn't chase you down and hand them back. If you don't file, you don't get them.
We have sat with clients who, after a quick review of four years of payslips and receipts, walked out with a Revenue refund cheque for over €2,000. Medical expenses alone — GP visits, consultant fees, physio, prescribed medication — can return between €200 and €600 a year for a typical family. Over four years, that is real money. Revenue allows claims up to four years back from the current tax year.
Irish Tax Refund Guide is produced by Marina Luna Oliveira d'Emilia, a qualified accountant and co-founder of D'Emilia Accounting, in partnership with Vitor Oliveira Alves, who handles operations, content and research.
Marina's background is in Revenue filings, tax relief applications and PAYE reviews. Before founding D'Emilia Accounting, she worked directly with clients across a range of tax positions — from straightforward PAYE employees with unclaimed medical expenses to self-employed sole traders managing their own income tax and USC. She understands how Revenue's systems work, where the money tends to be, and what documentation is required to make a successful claim through MyAccount.
The firm specialises in immigrants and PAYE workers who did not grow up in Ireland and therefore did not absorb, by osmosis, the informal knowledge that Irish people pick up over time — which reliefs exist, which forms to file, how MyAccount works. That knowledge gap costs people money every single year.
This is a reference guide, not a lead-generation funnel. Every page is written to answer a specific question that someone in Ireland might type into a search engine:
We cover the reliefs available under the Irish Income Tax Act in plain language, with worked examples where the numbers make the concept clearer than text alone. Every page cites its source — typically a specific section of Revenue's own website, a Tax and Duty Manual, or a Finance Act provision.
Irish tax law changes every year. The Finance Act is passed in December; Revenue updates its guidance through Tax and Duty Manuals throughout the year; the Budget changes rates and thresholds from October. This site is reviewed after every Budget and whenever Revenue issues revised guidance that affects the reliefs we cover.
We do not publish information we cannot trace to a primary source. If Revenue's published guidance conflicts with what a client has been told informally, we follow Revenue's official documentation and note the discrepancy. Where the law is ambiguous, we say so rather than presenting a confident answer that might not hold in your specific situation.
This site is not a tax agent, not a registered professional service, and not a substitute for advice from a qualified accountant when your situation warrants it. If you have a complex employment history, multiple income sources, rental income, a recent redundancy payment, or any Revenue compliance issue, please consult a professional before taking action.
The information here is accurate and sourced, but it is general guidance. Your individual situation may include factors that change what applies to you.
For the majority of PAYE employees with a straightforward employment history, the information on this site — combined with Revenue's own MyAccount portal — is sufficient to make your relief claims without professional assistance. That is deliberate. The goal is not to make you dependent on an accountant for things you can do yourself. The goal is to make sure you know what you're entitled to.
If you read the relevant pages, gather the right receipts, and file through MyAccount, Revenue will process your claim. Most straightforward refunds arrive within five working days.
D'Emilia Accounting takes on clients where the situation is more involved — a four-year review across multiple jobs, a mix of PAYE and self-employment income, or a case where Revenue has raised a query that needs a professional response. Our contact details are on the contact page. We operate primarily in English and Portuguese, with some capacity in Italian and Spanish.
If you have a question about the information on this site — a factual error, an outdated reference, or something that is unclear — the corrections page explains how to reach us.