Irish VAT Thresholds 2026: Full Reference

At a glance: Under Budget 2026, Ireland raised the VAT registration thresholds to €42,500 for services and €85,000 for goods (both up from the 2025 limits). Below these figures in a rolling 12 months, you don't have to register. Above, you do. Distance sellers and digital service providers use the EU-wide €10,000 OSS threshold instead.

The 2026 thresholds

Category	2025	2026	Change
Services (rolling 12 months)	€40,000	€42,500	+€2,500
Goods (rolling 12 months)	€80,000	€85,000	+€5,000
Distance selling to EU (OSS)	€10,000	€10,000	no change
Intra-EU acquisitions	€41,000	€41,000	no change

Do I count my turnover on the calendar year?

No — the Irish thresholds are based on a rolling 12-month window. At the end of every month, you check whether the last 12 months of turnover exceeded the threshold. If yes, you must register within 30 days. You do not wait for the end of the calendar year.

Services vs goods — which threshold applies to SaaS?

SaaS is considered "electronically supplied services" and sits under the services threshold of €42,500. If you sell a mix of goods and services, Revenue applies the lower threshold to the whole business.

Example: an agency making €50,000/year in consulting hits the services threshold and must register. An Amazon seller making €70,000/year in physical goods stays under €85,000 and does not.

Voluntary registration

You can register for Irish VAT voluntarily even if you're below the threshold. Reasons founders do this:

Reclaim VAT on expenses — typically 23% back on SaaS tools, ads, hosting and hardware
Look more professional — EU B2B customers often prefer to transact with VAT-registered suppliers
Avoid reverse charge friction — some EU customers require a valid VAT ID

The downside: you add 23% to your Irish-consumer prices overnight, and filing returns bi-monthly is admin overhead. Rule of thumb: if you sell B2B, register early. If you sell B2C, wait until you hit the threshold.

Distance selling and OSS

If you sell to consumers in other EU countries — physical goods shipped cross-border or digital services — you hit a different threshold: €10,000 total across all EU destination countries combined. Above that, you either register for VAT in each destination country (painful) or register for the One Stop Shop (OSS) in Ireland and charge destination-country VAT rates through a single Irish return.

Most founders go with OSS. It's a single quarterly return that covers all 27 EU destinations.

Imports and IOSS

For goods imported into the EU from outside (typically Shopify stores shipping from US/China to EU consumers), you can register for IOSS (Import OSS) if the consignment value is under €150. IOSS lets you collect VAT at checkout and avoid customs holds.

When do I register?

Track your rolling 12-month turnover monthly.
When you forecast the next 30 days will push you over the threshold, start the registration process.
Registration goes through the Revenue Online Service (ROS).
Expect 2–4 weeks for approval in 2026.

What happens if I register late?

Revenue can back-date your registration and demand VAT on sales where you did not charge it. This is the nightmare scenario for growing ecommerce stores that blow past the threshold without realizing. Penalties include interest at 8%/year and potential fixed penalties. Don't skip the monthly threshold check.

How VAT registration fits into company formation

You do not register for VAT as part of CRO incorporation. Those are two separate processes:

CRO — creates the legal company (handled by GetIrishCompany)
Revenue VAT registration — separate filing via ROS after incorporation (handled by GetVatrax)

Some founders register for VAT immediately after incorporation (voluntary registration). Others wait until they hit the threshold. Both are valid.

Where GetVatrax helps

GetVatrax is our sister product that handles the Revenue side — VAT registration, OSS/IOSS setup, bi-monthly and quarterly returns, Shopify/Stripe VAT exports, and filing reminders. If your Irish company is likely to need VAT, we pass your data automatically from GetIrishCompany to GetVatrax at handoff.

Open GetVatrax →

Irish VAT Thresholds 2026