Tax and revenue information

If you are an Irish tax resident and domiciled individual, you should be subject to Irish tax rules on your worldwide income and gains. This includes foreign income earned abroad, such as interest income earned on deposits held in foreign bank accounts. On this page, we explain what the withholding tax is, as well as provide necessary documentation and deadlines for each of the EU countries of our partner banks. We also explain how to obtain a certificate of tax residence.*

Deposit interest income earned on non-Irish deposit accounts located in the EU in a tax year should be subject to Irish income tax under Case III of Schedule D and should generally be taxable at a rate of 33%.

Where a deposit is placed with a Partner Bank and the account is located in Ireland, we would generally expect there to be an obligation for Irish DIRT to be operated by our Partner Banks. Where this is the case, our Partner Bank should pay the tax over to the Irish Revenue Commissioners (“Revenue”) on your behalf. At the moment, none of Raisin Bank’s Partner Banks offer accounts in Ireland.

In certain instances, you may have suffered foreign withholding tax from a non-Irish bank on your interest income, and you may be able to claim additional tax relief for this foreign tax.

Please note that as an Irish domiciled and tax resident individual, you may also be subject to Irish Pay Related Social Insurance (“PRSI”) on your foreign interest income.

Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) is a tax levied on interest earned on deposit accounts held by Irish account holders.

Irish tax rules generally require Irish banks, or EEA licensed banks, to operate DIRT on deposit interest paid or credited to deposit accounts held in Ireland.

Where you have opened a deposit account(s) with one or more of our Partner Banks which are held outside Ireland, our Partner Banks should not be obliged to deduct DIRT on the deposit interest earned on your deposits.

Instead, as an Irish tax resident and domiciled individual, the onus is on you to report this foreign deposit interest income in your annual income tax return. You should be subject to Irish income tax under Case III of Schedule D on receipt of this interest income. Where this is not paid over on time by you as part of filing your annual income tax return on or before 31 October 2024 (or November 2024 if filing online) for the 2023 tax year, the interest income should become taxable at a higher rate of 40%.

As mentioned above, in certain circumstances, you may also be subject to PRSI on the interest you have received from the non-Irish deposit accounts. Foreign deposit interest income received should be exempt from USC.

Find out more about DIRT here.

The withholding tax for interest generated on deposits of private individuals in Europe is harmonised across most countries. In most cases, this withholding can be lowered or cancelled completely by presenting a certificate of tax residence. However, certain countries in which our Partner Banks are located may require local withholding taxes to be operated.

As a result, you may be entitled to claim tax relief for any foreign (non-Irish) tax withheld on deposit interest earned from bank accounts located in the EU or countries with which Ireland has a Double Taxation Agreement (“DTA”). Ireland has an extensive DTA network which includes the UK, and Irish domestic tax law generally provides that a tax credit may be available for foreign tax suffered up to the equivalent amount of Irish tax due on the total income.

Please note, you should only claim a tax credit up to the equivalent amount of Irish tax due and will not be entitled to a refund from the Irish Revenue for any additional tax withheld in the other jurisdiction. In your income tax return, you should remember to claim a credit for any additional withholding tax you have suffered during the period.

Depending on the partner bank and the country in which it is located, the documents required from customers may differ. Here you can find a brief summary of the document requirements by country. In any case, we will always remind you with plenty of time what documents are required, where to send them, and when.

Documentation for Raisin Bank customers

The partner banks provide, at the expiration of the deposit or at the time of payment of the interest generated, all relevant information on interest income, applied withholding tax and exchange rate. You will receive this document in the Mailbox of your online banking.

Also, at the beginning of the year, we will provide you with a document containing all the relevant fiscal information related to the previous year that you will need to file your taxes.

Forms and liabilities

Raisin will in some cases be able to provide you with a withholding tax form which will then need to be submitted to your local tax authority, signed, and stamped and returned to the partner bank concerned. Our service in this matter is limited to forwarding the forms and communicating to you that we have done so.

We will always make every effort to ensure all information and forms required by the Irish tax authority from the countries you are investing in is up-to-date. Please bear in mind that in rare cases, a tax rule could change in any of the countries where your investments are placed via Raisin. For this reason, it is important that you contact your local tax authority or a professional tax adviser in all these matters.

Wrongly withheld taxes

Please make sure your forms are correctly filled in, have a valid signature, are in good format and are sent at the right time (not too early, not too late) to reduce the withholding tax. If you think a Partner Bank has wrongly withheld taxes our Customer Services Team will be pleased to answer any questions you may have. In this regard, please note that we do not provide tax advice and, therefore, tax-related information is given on a non-reliance basis only. We strongly advise customers to seek individual tax advice in case of doubt.

Disclaimer

We kindly ask you to note that the declaration of taxes, be it income tax, withholding tax or any other type of tax, is your personal responsibility. Your specific tax treatment depends on your personal circumstances, and there may also be future changes in the tax treatment.

At Raisin Bank, we do not offer tax advice, and we assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the tax information provided. For more information, consult with your tax advisor or directly with Revenue.