Quarterly Tax Date 2024 in Ireland: Key Deadline

If you’ve heard about “quarterly tax dates” from American sources, Ireland’s system might come as a surprise. Rather than four estimated payments spread across the year, Irish self‑employed workers face a single, compressed deadline each autumn — and that same date covers both last year’s tax bill and this year’s advance payment. Getting the timing right matters: Revenue starts charging interest the day after the deadline passes. This guide lays out exactly when the 2024 tax year obligations fall, who needs to pay, and how to work out your preliminary tax without guesswork.

2024 tax year start: 1 January 2024 ·
2024 tax year end: 31 December 2024 ·
Preliminary tax deadline (2024): 31 October 2024 ·
ROS extended filing deadline: 12 November 2024 ·
Balance of tax due for 2024: 31 October 2025 ·
VAT quarterly return due (Q4 2024): 19 January 2025

The table below summarises the core 2024 tax year dates you need to track.

How to calculate preliminary tax in Ireland?

Preliminary tax is an advance estimate of the Income Tax, PRSI and Universal Social Charge (USC) you expect to owe for the current tax year. Revenue requires self‑employed taxpayers to pay it by 31 October so that the Exchequer is not left out of pocket while you await your annual reconciliation.

The calculation hinges on two safe‑harbour options — either of which shields you from interest charges on underpayment:

• 90% rule: Pay at least 90% of the tax actually due for the current year (2024). This requires you to estimate your 2024 profit realistically mid‑year.
• 100% prior‑year rule: Pay at least 100% of the tax liability shown on your completed 2023 return. This is the simpler option for most people, since the figure is already known.
• 105% direct‑debit rule: If you pay by ROS Debit Instruction, you can meet the threshold by remitting 105% of the tax due for the pre‑preceding year (2022) — useful for newer businesses with rising profits.

To illustrate the prior‑year method: if your 2023 tax liability was €8,400, your preliminary tax for 2024 must be at least €8,400. If your actual 2024 liability turns out to be €9,200, you settle the €800 difference when you file your 2024 return in October 2025.

Apply the standard rate (20%) and higher rate (40%) to taxable income

• Irish income tax is banded: the first €42,000 of taxable income (2024 rates) attracts the standard 20% rate; income above that threshold is taxed at 40%.
• Allowable business expenses reduce your taxable profit before these rates are applied.

Subtract tax credits and reliefs

• Tax credits — such as the Earned Income Credit for self‑employed individuals or relief for rent paid for business premises — are subtracted directly from the tax calculated, not from income.
• The standard rate cut‑off point and credit values are updated annually in the Finance Act; Revenue publishes the current year figures on revenue.ie.

Submit payment to Revenue via ROS

• Log in to ROS at revenue.ie, select “Pay & File,” and choose the relevant preliminary tax record for 2024.
• You can pay by debit or credit card, or set up a ROS Debit Instruction for a one‑off bank transfer.
• Revenue warns that interest accrues on any shortfall from 31 October 2024 if your preliminary tax falls short of the safe‑harbour threshold.

Which months are included in the 2024 tax year?

Ireland operates on a calendar‑year basis for individual income tax. The 2024 tax year runs from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, and all income earned in that window is declared in your 2024 self‑assessment return (Form 11), which is due the following year.

This matters for VAT in particular: quarterly VAT returns are tied to the calendar quarters, not to the timing of your income tax return.

The VAT return schedule for 2024 follows a consistent 19‑day pattern after each quarter closes.

The pattern is consistent: 19 days after each quarter ends. If you are registered for VAT and file monthly, the deadline shifts to the 19th of the following month.

What this means in practice: your VAT obligations run on their own clock through 2024, while your income tax obligations for 2024 are reconciled the following year. These are two separate compliance streams sharing the same calendar.

Do I have to pay preliminary tax every year?

If your income tax liability for the previous year was more than €5,000, preliminary tax is mandatory — the law requires it. Revenue’s guidance is explicit that self‑employed individuals with a tax bill exceeding this threshold must make the advance payment by 31 October.

New businesses face a slightly different situation: because there is no prior‑year liability, the 90% rule applies from the outset, which means estimating current‑year profits from the start.

Consequences of non‑payment or underpayment

• Interest is charged on the shortfall from the due date (31 October) until the tax is paid in full.
• If your preliminary tax falls well below the required amount, Revenue may estimate your liability and issue a notice.

Revenue confirms that under self‑assessment there is a common date for payment of tax and filing of tax returns, meaning the return and the payment must both be dealt with by the Pay & File deadline or the extended ROS date. Kinore’s guide to the ROS pay and file tax deadline notes that the standard paper deadline is 31 October, with an online extension available to mid‑November.

What are the dates of a tax year?

The Irish tax year for individuals follows the calendar exactly: it starts on 1 January and ends on 31 December. Kinore identifies 1 January as the start of the new Irish tax year, when taxpayers should begin tracking income and expenses for that year.

Corporation tax operates differently — companies are taxed on their own 12‑month accounting period, which can fall in any month — but for self‑employed individuals and sole traders, the calendar year is universal.

Key filing dates are anchored to the year end: the Pay & File deadline (31 October) falls roughly ten months after the year closes, giving you the better part of a year to finalise accounts before Revenue expects payment.

How to calculate quarterly taxes?

This is where confusion often arises: Ireland does not require self‑employed individuals to pay income tax in quarterly instalments. The annual Pay & File system replaces the quarterly‑estimate approach used in the United States. Block Advisors and TurboTax both describe the US quarterly estimated tax dates (April 15, June 15, September 15, January 15) — these have no equivalent in Irish income tax law.

What is genuinely quarterly in Ireland is VAT. If you are VAT‑registered, you must file returns and pay any VAT due on a quarterly basis, with each return due 19 days after the quarter ends.

Estimate annual income and apply tax rates

• Work out your expected 2024 profit: total sales minus allowable expenses.
• Apply the 20% and 40% bands to that figure, then subtract your tax credits to arrive at your estimated liability.

Divide estimated tax into four equal instalments (if using quarterly method)

• Strictly speaking, the quarterly method for income tax does not exist in Ireland — this approach is a common misapplication of US logic.
• The only legitimate advance payment is preliminary tax, paid as a single lump sum on 31 October.

The implication: workers who plan for four smaller payments throughout the year will face a cash‑flow shock when the October deadline arrives.

Step-by-step: meeting your 2024 Irish tax obligations

Three distinct payment and filing streams run through the 2024 tax year. Here is how to handle each one in order.

1. Track income and expenses from 1 January 2024. Maintain accurate records from the start of the year. This makes estimating your preliminary tax easier and reduces the risk of a large balancing payment later.
2. File your 2023 return and pay 2023 balance by 31 October 2024. Under the Pay & File system, you simultaneously file Form 11 for 2023 and pay any balance of tax outstanding for that year. Sage Ireland explains that self‑employed taxpayers must file their return for the previous year, pay any balance of tax due for that previous year, and pay preliminary tax for the current year — all by the same deadline.
3. Calculate and pay preliminary tax for 2024 by 31 October 2024. Use the 100% prior‑year method as your default unless your 2024 income is clearly much higher or lower than 2023. Pay via ROS to ensure the transaction is logged before the deadline.
4. File quarterly VAT returns (if VAT‑registered). Q1 return due 19 April, Q2 by 19 July, Q3 by 19 October, Q4 by 19 January 2025. Pay any VAT due at the same time.
5. File your 2024 Form 11 and pay the balance by 31 October 2025. This is when your 2024 income tax is finally reconciled. The balance you owe (or any refund) reflects your actual profit for the year, minus preliminary tax already paid and any credits.

Tax Return Plus illustrates the Irish schedule by explaining that a 2024 tax return must be filed and paid by 31 October 2025, and at the same time preliminary tax for 2025 must be paid — the same double obligation applies to the 2023 cycle closing in October 2024.

Tax Return Plus notes that the 31 October date is both the deadline to file and pay the final liability for a given tax year and the deadline to make the preliminary tax payment for the following year.

2024 tax year timeline

Here is a consolidated view of every key compliance date for the 2024 tax year.

The timeline below shows the sequence of obligations self‑employed workers face across 2024 and into 2025.

The implication: self‑employed workers effectively face a tax event in October every year. The October 2024 Pay & File covers the prior year (2023); the October 2025 Pay & File covers 2024. Treat each autumn as your tax reckoning date.

Confirmed facts and open questions

What experts say

“Revenue confirms that under self‑assessment there is a common date for payment of tax and filing of tax returns, meaning tax payment and return filing fall on the same deadline — 31 October for most self‑assessed taxpayers.”

— Revenue Commissioners (Ireland) (Guide to self‑assessment)

“Preliminary tax for 2024 must be paid on or before 31 October 2024. To avoid interest for underpayment, it must be at least 90% of the tax due for the current year, or 100% of the tax due for the previous year, or 105% of the pre‑preceding year’s tax if paying by direct debit.”

— Revenue Commissioners (Ireland) (Preliminary tax guidance)

“For most Irish taxpayers the Pay and File deadline is 31 October each year, with an extended deadline to mid‑November when filing and paying via Revenue Online Service (ROS).”

— Kinore (ROS pay and file tax deadline guide)

The practical consequence is straightforward: for self‑employed workers and sole traders in Ireland, the single most important tax date in any given year is the autumn Pay & File deadline. Everything else — VAT returns notwithstanding — flows from that single obligation.

For those managing quarterly payments, it’s worth noting that the 2025 tax return deadline also falls on 31 October for paper filers.

Frequently asked questions