You must register for VAT once your turnover passes €42,500 in a calendar year for services, or €85,000 if you mainly sell goods. We check whether and when you need to register, set you up on ROS, and prepare and file your VAT returns.
Information checked 3 October 2026 against Revenue and CRO guidance.
What's included
You must register once your turnover in a calendar year passes, or is likely to pass, the threshold for your type of business. The calendar-year test has applied since 1 January 2025.
| Type of business | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Services only | €42,500 |
| Goods, where 90% or more of turnover is from goods | €85,000 |
| Buying goods from other EU countries | €41,000 |
| Distance sales of goods to consumers in other EU countries | €10,000 |
Missing the threshold is expensive: Revenue can charge a fixed penalty of €4,000 for failing to register, plus interest of 0.0274% a day on VAT paid late.
Most businesses file a VAT3 return for each two-month period: January and February, March and April, and so on. The return and payment are due by the 19th of the following month, or the 23rd if you file and pay on ROS. Once a year you also file a Return of Trading Details (RTD) that summarises your sales and purchases by VAT rate.
Worked example
In March and April you invoice €30,000 of services plus VAT at 23%, so you charge €6,900 of VAT. Your business costs for the same period include €1,200 of VAT you can reclaim. The VAT3 shows €6,900 on sales (T1) and €1,200 on purchases (T2), so €5,700 is payable. Filing and paying on ROS, it is due by 23 May.
| Rate | Name |
|---|---|
| 23% | Standard rate |
| 13.5% | Reduced rate |
| 9% | Second reduced rate |
| 4.8% | Livestock rate |
| 4.5% | Flat-rate addition for unregistered farmers |
Revenue's VAT rates database lists the rate for each good or service. Getting the rate wrong is one of the most common VAT errors, so check before you invoice.
A PDF emailed to a customer is not an e-invoice under these rules. If your software cannot yet produce or receive structured invoices, plan the change well before 2028.
Yes. You can choose to register even if your turnover is below the threshold. It often makes sense when your customers are VAT-registered businesses, because you can reclaim the VAT on your own costs. If you sell mainly to consumers, registering usually means raising your prices or absorbing the VAT.
Source: Revenue: Who may elect to register for VAT?, checked 3 October 2026.
Revenue can charge a fixed penalty of €4,000 for failing to register, and interest of 0.0274% a day on VAT paid late. Registering as soon as you pass the threshold, and getting advice on any VAT already due, keeps the cost down.
Source: Revenue: Fixed penalties (VAT), checked 3 October 2026.
Six years. That includes invoices, credit notes, VAT returns and the records behind them, and it will include e-invoice files once e-invoicing starts.
Source: Revenue: How long do you keep records for? (VAT), checked 3 October 2026.
If you are a subcontractor providing construction services to a principal contractor under RCT, yes: you invoice without VAT and the principal accounts for it. The reverse charge also applies to many services bought from businesses abroad.
Source: Revenue: Construction services (VAT), checked 3 October 2026.
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