Scope and key dates

Budget 2027 was announced on 6 October 2026.

It combines a personal-tax package, targeted changes to investment and business taxes, and a social-protection package that raises most core weekly payments.

Personal tax, USC and PRSI

The income-tax rates remain 20% and 40%.

The main change is a €2,500 increase in the standard-rate cut-off point.

The personal, employee and earned income tax credits each rise by €125, while the home carer tax credit rises by €100. 

For two-income married couples or civil partners, the additional band remains subject to the lower earner’s income and the statutory maximum. The standard 20% and 40% tax rates are unchanged.

Universal social charge (USC)

The ceiling of the 2% USC band rises by €1,600, from €28,700 to €30,300.

Income below €13,000 remains exempt from USC. For income above that exemption, the 2027 bands begin at 0.5% on the first €12,012 and 2% from €12,013 to €30,300; the higher USC rates otherwise remain in place. A 3% USC surcharge continues to apply to self-employed income above €100,000.

PRSI and the minimum wage

The national minimum wage rises by 79 cent to €14.94 an hour from 1 January 2027. To reduce the cliff effect for employers, the weekly threshold at which the higher employer-PRSI rate applies rises from €552 to €600. T

The previously legislated PRSI increases continue: for Class A employees, the rate is 4.35% before 1 October 2027 and 4.50% from that date; the higher employer rate moves from 11.40% to 11.55% on 1 October.

Savings, investments and capital taxes

Capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax

The standard CGT rate falls from 33% to 31% for disposals on or after 7 October 2026.

The 33% rate for development-land disposals does not change.

The CAT rate remains 33%, but the tax-free group thresholds increase: Group A rises from €400,000 to €420,000; Group B from €40,000 to €44,000; and Group C from €20,000 to €22,000. These CAT thresholds apply to gifts and inheritances taken on or after 7 October 2026.

Funds, life assurance and the new investment account

The tax on Irish-domiciled funds, equivalent offshore funds, and affected Irish and foreign life-assurance policies falls from 38% to 35%. This also affects equivalent offshore ETFs within the relevant fund regime. The 8-year deemed-disposal approach remains for investments held outside the new account.

A new investment account, described in some guidance as a Personal Investment Account, is expected to launch from 1 July 2027. It is designed for Irish-resident individuals aged 18 or over with a PPSN. There will be one account per person on launch, an annual contribution cap of €12,000 and no minimum contribution.

The first €50,000 of account value is tax-free. A 1% annual tax applies to the value above €50,000, calculated from average daily values, and is administered by the provider.

Eligible holdings include shares, bonds, funds and insurance-based investment products; the ordinary CGT, dividend-withholding-tax, fund-tax and deemed-disposal regimes do not apply inside the account. Further details remain subject to Finance Bill legislation.

Pensions

The Finance Bill will revise the age-related valuation factors used to value defined-benefit pension entitlements for the Standard Fund Threshold from 1 January 2027. The Budget publication does not set out a new threshold amount; it describes a revision to the valuation factors.

Housing and property taxes

Renters, homeowners and first-time buyers

The rent tax credit rises by €150 to €1,150 for an individual and by €300 to €2,300 for a jointly assessed couple. The increased credit applies for the 2027 and 2028 tax years.

Rent-a-room relief rises from €14,000 to €16,000 from 1 January 2027. It is also extended, subject to the planning rules, to certain designated detached auxiliary dwellings installed after 27 July 2026; the €16,000 ceiling covers all qualifying rent-a-room income for the taxpayer unit.

The maximum help to buy relief rises from €30,000 to €35,000 from 7 October 2026. The other limits remain: relief is the lower of the maximum, 10% of the qualifying new-home purchase price, and the amount of income tax and DIRT paid in the four years before the application.

Land and derelict property

Owners of land within the residential zoned land tax maps receive a further opportunity to request a zoning change for the revised 2027 map.

Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026 is intended to introduce a new derelict property tax to replace the derelict sites levy.

It will apply to residential and non-residential properties entered on local-authority derelict-property registers and will be charged at 7% of the self-assessed property value. In the first year, the scheme covers towns and cities with populations of at least 4,000. Local authorities are to inspect properties during 2027, publish preliminary registers on 1 September 2027 and final registers on 1 March 2028.

The first pay-and-file deadline is 23 June 2028. Owners can seek a review and may avoid or mitigate liability by remedying, clearing or appropriately transferring a derelict property.

Business, farming and VAT

Corporation tax and research and development (R&D)

There is no change to the 12.5% corporation-tax rate on trading income, the 25% rate on non-trading income, or the 15% minimum effective rate for large groups within Pillar Two. The Budget makes technical Pillar Two amendments to implement agreed OECD guidance.

The 35% R&D tax-credit rate remains. The first-year payment threshold rises from €87,500 to €105,000, allowing the first €105,000 of a qualifying claim to be paid in full in year one rather than over the standard three instalments.

The limits for subcontracted R&D to universities/institutes and to unconnected third parties rise to the greater of 20% of qualifying in-house expenditure or €200,000. The package also includes a 5% uplift to the qualifying cost base for eligible R&D wage costs, a preliminary-tax cash-flow improvement and a technical change for regulated clinical trials.

The knowledge development box is extended to 1 January 2032, with a limited opt-out option for existing claimants.

Relief for qualifying start-up companies under section 486C is extended to 31 December 2030.

The Employment Investment Incentive, Start-Up Capital Incentive, Start-Up Relief for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investor Relief are intended to continue in their current form, subject to the revised EU General Block Exemption Regulation.

Preliminary corporation-tax: The small-company threshold rises from €200,000 to €350,000 of prior-year corporation-tax liability, and companies can use a limited top-up mechanism where at least 80% of current-year liability has been paid by the final preliminary-tax instalment date and the balance is paid within four months of the accounting-period end.

Farming

VAT on respiratory vaccines for livestock falls from 23% to 9%. The farmer’s flat-rate addition rises from 4.5% to 4.8% for 2027.

The accelerated capital-allowance scheme for farm-safety equipment is extended to 31 December 2029, with 12 items added to the eligible-equipment list.

The succession farm partnership tax credit doubles from €5,000 to €10,000 for partnerships registered from 1 January 2027, and the three-year holding period is removed for applications made from that date.

VAT rates

The standard VAT rate remains 23% and the reduced rate remains 13.5%.

The 9% rate on gas and electricity continues to 2030. The 9% rate on qualifying newly constructed apartments also continues to 2030, while the 9% catering, hot-takeaway and hairdressing rate introduced in 2026 is unchanged.

Excise, transport and climate taxes

Fuel and carbon taxes

The temporary reduction in the non-carbon component of mineral-oil tax continues until 28 February 2027.

Petrol and diesel excise is then restored in stages on 28 February, 8 April, 1 May and 30 June 2027; marked gas oil returns in full on 28 February.

Carbon tax on kerosene and natural gas is reduced to €48.50 per tonne of CO₂ until 2030. For petrol and diesel, the scheduled increase to €78.50 per tonne is deferred to 1 May 2027, with a further increase on 13 October 2027. The scheduled increases for marked gas oil are also deferred.

Vehicles and household microgeneration

The €5,000 VRT relief for electric vehicles is extended to 31 December 2028. From 1 January 2027, VRT percentage rates for cars in bands 3 to 20, covering CO₂ emissions above 80g/km, rise by 1 percentage point; bands 1 and 2 do not change.

The annual exemption for qualifying household profits from electricity supplied to the grid rises from €400 to €600, and applies to income tax, USC and PRSI.

Tobacco, vaping and betting

Duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes increases by €1, including VAT, with pro-rata increases for other tobacco products.

Excise on e-liquids rises by 20 cent per millilitre, excluding VAT, from 1 January 2027, bringing the total e-liquid excise rate to 70 cent per millilitre.

A new pool-betting charge of 25% of commissions earned is generally due to begin on 1 January 2027, with an exemption for on-course pool bets.

Other tax and administrative changes

Tax relief for third-level fees will be aligned with the lower student contribution fee by reducing the amount of fees disregarded for relief.

The childcare services exemption rises from €15,000 to €20,000 for qualifying childminders, and the three-child limit is removed subject to the regulatory rules. Rebates under the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund become tax-exempt.

The annual aggregate limit for donations of heritage items increases from €8 million to €12 million; the donor relief remains 80% of the value. The annual capped fund for the VAT Charity Compensation Scheme rises to €15 million for 2027.

The Bank Levy is extended in its existing form for 2027 with a target yield of €200 million.

Professional Services Withholding Tax will move toward personalised deduction rates rather than a flat 20% rate, and self-employed taxpayers may opt into real-time information exchange with Revenue, subject to commencement.

Employers receive a more flexible reporting deadline under enhanced reporting requirements: they may report tax-free benefits when paid or by the 14th of the following month.

Social welfare increases

From January 2027, the maximum rate of most weekly social-welfare payments and pensions rises by €10.

Qualified-adult and reduced rates receive proportionate increases. The Government states that social-protection spending will exceed €30 billion in 2027, including almost €1.15 billion of new measures.

Domiciliary care allowance remains €380 monthly, the carer’s support grant remains €2,000 annually and child benefit remains €140 monthly per child.

Children and the Christmas bonus

The weekly child support payment rises by €6: to €64 for a child under 12 and €84 for a child aged 12 or over.

A 100% Christmas Bonus is to be paid in the week beginning 7 December 2026 to people receiving a qualifying long-term social-welfare payment; the Department’s list includes pensions, disability, carer, jobseeker, one-parent, community-employment and several other qualifying schemes, subject in some cases to a 12-month duration requirement.

Targeted supports

Disabled people

The Budget introduces the first cost of disability payment: a €500 lump sum in 2027 for people on a long-term disability payment, including blind pension, disability allowance, invalidity pension and partial capacity benefit.

A co-design process is to shape how a permanent payment will operate from 2028. From July 2027, the employment-income disregard for disability allowance and blind pension rises by €10 to €175 a week.

The wage subsidy scheme minimum-hours requirement falls from 15 to 8 hours a week from April 2027, the scheme extends to people moving from illness benefit to partial capacity benefit, and the employment assistance officer grant rises from €30,000 to €45,000 annually.

Pensioners

State pensions receive the core €10 weekly increase. The fuel allowance means test improves for single pensioners aged 66 or over: the income limit, previously set at half the couple limit, rises to 60% of the couple limit.

From July 2027, the upper-income threshold for an Increase for a qualified adult alongside the State pension (contributory) and other social-insurance payments rises from €310 to €340 a week.

Carers

From July 2027, the carer’s allowance weekly income disregard rises from €1,000 to €1,150 for a single person and from €2,000 to €2,300 for a couple. carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit also receive the core rate increase.

Families, lone parents and rural communities

Working family payment income limits rise €30 a week for every family size. The 2027 weekly limits are €795 for one child, €896 for two, €997 for three, €1,088 for four, €1,214 for five, €1,330 for six, €1,466 for seven and €1,562 for eight or more.

As the payment is 60% of the shortfall between the applicable limit and weekly family income, a €30 limit increase can be worth up to €18 a week where eligibility and income are otherwise unchanged.

From July 2027, the earnings disregard for one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transitional payment rises from €165 to €175 a week. The same €175 disregard applies to disability allowance and blind pension.

For farm assist and State pension (non-contributory), the agri-environment-scheme disregard rises from €5,000 to €7,500 and the seaweed-harvesting disregard rises from €1,270 to €2,500 annually. The rural-dweller pilot expands to 500 places, and the specified-island weekly increase becomes €25.

Work, families, childcare and education

Employment and activation supports

The community employment, rural social scheme and Tús top-up rises by €2.50 to €35 a week, in addition to the core rate increase where applicable.

The Tús requalification period falls from three years to two. The work placement experience programme training uplift increases by €25 to €140 a week, while the Job Initiative top-up rises by €5.

Childcare and childminders

From September 2027, childcare fees for children up to and including senior-infants age are capped at €137.50 a week, or €550 a month, after the universal National childcare scheme subsidy. The universal subsidy for this age group rises from €2.14 to €2.50 an hour.

The maximum income-assessed subsidy becomes available to families with reckonable income of €38,500 or less, up from €34,000. The multiple-child discount thresholds also increase. Separately, the childminder tax exemption rises to €20,000 and the three-child limit is removed, subject to regulation.

Education supports

The student contribution fee is permanently reduced by €150 to €2,350. Maintenance grants under the student grant scheme rise by 4.5% from January 2027.