A tax refund for a non-resident is one of the first cases before the Tax Appeals Commission this year. It’s a short case at 10 pages. When the page numbers are low, it’s usually not a good outcome for the taxpayer. Then you read the first page, and you know there’s only one result here. The outcome is a foregone conclusion in favour of Revenue. Why? Because Revenue won’t refund tax outside of four years. The 4-year rule is hard and fast.
You can complain that I’ve spoiled the ending, but the purpose of this isn’t the ending. It’s more about the income the lady was getting and the steps to take if you are in a similar position. Let’s look at
- The Appeal Case
- The Outcome
- Pension Income
- Steps to help you
The Appeal Case
Eileen Knight is the taxpayer who brought the appeal case against Revenue. Revenue refused her tax repayment claims for the years 2013 to 2019. There was a hearing before the appeal commissioner on the 7th of October 2025.
Since 2013, Eileen was in receipt of pension annuity income from a life company. There’s no mention of the amount, but let’s assume it was €35,000 per annum. The life company deducted tax at source before making the payments to Eileen. She only became aware of this in 2024. As a result, she contacted Revenue in October 2024 to seek repayment of the tax. Eileen was a non-resident, so she should have had no tax deductions from the income here.
Revenue allowed the tax refund claims for the four years 2020 to 2024. But they refused to refund her the tax deducted for the years 2013 to 2019. Aggrieved by this, Eileen brought a case to the Appeals Commission.
Background
As some background to provide context, Eileen moved to England in 2003. In 2008, she moved to Australia and then to Spain in 2017.
“I was registered and paid tax in those countries. I’m still registered and pay tax in Spain, where I currently live”.
As I was not resident for the period 2013-2019, I was not liable for tax in Ireland. Yet the taxes were withheld and paid to Revenue. Therefore, I request a refund of those taxes”.
Revenue submission
The Revenue submission was straightforward and focused on the tax law.
“…..a claim for repayment of tax shall not be allowed unless it is made within 4 years after the end of the chargeable period to which the claim relates. The use of “shall” indicates that there is no discretion in applying this 4-year time limit. The wording does not provide for any extenuating circumstances that would allow the 4-year rule to be mitigated”
Revenue go on to express sympathy for Eileen’s case, given the money she lost out on. Yet, they confirm they couldn’t refund her the money as it would be illegal for them to do so.
The Outcome
The outcome could only be a win for Revenue, and that is what transpired. For Eileen to get her refunds for the various tax years, she needed to claim for repayment of tax on or before
| Tax Year | Statutory Deadline |
| 2013 | 31 December 2017 |
| 2014 | 31 December 2018 |
| 2015 | 31 December 2019 |
| 2016 | 31 December 2020 |
| 2017 | 31 December 2021 |
| 2018 | 31 December 2022 |
| 2019 | 31 December 2023 |
For Eileen to be successful in her appeal, she must prove that Revenue were incorrect to refuse her tax refund claims for the years in question.
“The burden of proof in this appeal process is, as in all taxation appeals, on the taxpayer. This is not a plenary civil hearing. It is an enquiry by the Appeal Commissioners as to whether the taxpayer has shown that the relevant tax in not payable.”
The Commissioner recognised that Eileen’s circumstances were unfortunate. But he must decide on the outcome based on the tax laws. As a result,
“The Commissioner is satisfied that Revenue correctly interpreted and applied the tax laws when refusing Eileen’s claims for repayment of tax. It follows that the appeal cannot succeed.”
So no joy for Eileen, and Revenue get to keep her money for the seven years 2013 to 2019. There are no figures mentioned. If the tax was €4,000 a year, that’s going on €30,000 over that period.
Frustrating
This type of case bugs the life out of me. There are plenty of decent skins in Revenue that would sympathise with Eileen. But they can’t refund the money to her. If they did, they would be breaking the tax laws, and their job is to uphold those laws. What’s frustrating is that Eileen wasn’t aware that tax was deducted from her pension. She only became aware of this 11 years later. That’s bizarre.
Why is that? Was the life company sending her payslips when they made a pension payment to her? Did they have her correct address? Eileen was resident in Ireland when she took out the pension. Did she inform them that she was resident abroad? Were there mistakes made by the life company? We don’t know and can only speculate. What’s annoying is the lack of knowledge of how to read a payslip. A lack of a general understanding of tax. How many people can understand their own payslip?
Revenue make an annual push for taxpayers to reclaim tax. Yet millions stay with them from unclaimed credits and reliefs.
Pension Income
One of the things to delve a bit deeper into is why the pension income isn’t liable to tax in Ireland. Eileen was a resident of Australia up to 2017 and then became a resident of Spain. She confirmed that she’s registered for tax in Spain and pays tax there.
If we look at the Ireland-Spain double tax agreement and Article 18 of that. That article states that
“pensions and other similar remuneration paid in consideration of past employment to a resident of a Contracting State and any annuity paid to such a resident shall be taxable only in that State
Eileen is a resident of a contracting state, being Spain. As a result, that annuity or pension income is taxable only in Spain. And the same would apply if the roles were reversed. Say Marta, from Spain, becomes resident in Ireland, and she’s in receipt of a pension from Spain. She’d be only liable to tax on that pension in Ireland.
Exception
There is an exception to this. Government pensions. These would include pensions paid to public and civil servants and employees of a local authority. Such pensions will continue to be taxed in Ireland irrespective of where the pensioner is resident. Say Eileen receives an army pension while resident in Spain. That pension, being a government pension, is taxable only in Ireland and not taxable in Spain. It would only become taxable in Spain if she were both resident in and a national of Spain. Assuming she doesn’t become a Spanish national or citizen, she would continue to pay tax in Ireland only.
State or social security pensions fall under Article 18. So, if you get the state pension at 66 and move to Spain, you’ll only pay tax in Spain on that once you are resident there.
Double Whammy
There’s a potential double whammy for Eileen in her situation. The pension annuity that isn’t liable to tax in Ireland would be liable in Spain. Eileen could have ended up paying tax in both countries on the same income. She should have declared it as part of her Spanish Income. The only saving grace is that she could get some relief for the incorrect tax paid in Ireland against her Spanish taxes. [I would add here that I do not know Spanish taxes.] The double tax agreement between the two countries would allow for a credit for Irish tax paid.
Another issue could be her Irish State pension. Thankfully, tax isn’t deducted at source from your state pension, but it is taxable income. Revenue collect the tax on your state pension by reducing the tax credits and the lower rate band. Say you are single and aged 67. You get a state pension of €15,000, and you have a private pension of €25,000. So, your total income is €40,000. For a single person in 2026, the lower rate band is €44,000, and your tax credits are €4,000.
Tax on State Pension
To collect the tax on your State pension, Revenue will
- Reduce your lower rate band by the amount of the pension and
- Allocate enough credits to collect the tax.
| Lower rate band | €44,000 |
| Less amount allocated to the State Pension | (€15,000) |
| Balance remaining for other pension | €29,000 |
| Tax credits for 2026 | €4,000 |
| Less allocated to the State Pension | (€3,000) |
| Balance of credits for the other pension | €1,000 |
You’ll see that there is €29,000 of the lower rate band left and €1,000 of tax credits for the private pension. The tax liability on that comes to €4,000
| €25,000 X 20% | €5,000 |
| Less remaining tax credits | (€1,000) |
| Tax liability | €4,000 |
As you can see, while no tax is deducted from your State Pension, Revenue collect the tax. You simply end up paying more tax on your other income. You’ll see that by looking at the total tax bill for 2026
| State Pension | €15,000 |
| Other Pension | €25,000 |
| Total Income | €40,000 |
| Tax Payable at 20% | €8,000 |
| Less Tax Credits | (€4,000) |
| Final Tax liability | €4,000 |
Steps to help you
What steps are there to help you? The first thing is to understand what pensions you have. Are they government pensions, state pensions or non-government work-related pensions? Does Revenue know you are not resident here? With some of our non-resident clients, I see Revenue still have an Irish address as the main address. That’s despite us telling them that they are
- Not resident in Ireland and
- Confirming their address in their new country
Have you told your pension provider your new address abroad? In the current technological environment, we have gone away from physical post. Everything is by email. Your home address isn’t as important because you are communicating fine. The address they have for you could be the address you gave them when you took out that policy. It could be that you still own that property and are renting it out. Your tenant is getting your post, and you eventually get it.
If it were Eileen, still resident in Spain, getting the €40,000 in pension Income, there would be no Irish liability. All that pension income would be taxable in Spain. As such, she would have overpaid Irish Tax by €4,000 a year. Similar to what happened to her in the years 2013 to 2024.
In your year of moving abroad, you could be leaving lots of unused lower-rate band and tax credits on the table. This week, we did a tax return for a client who moved to New Zealand in 2025. They were due a refund of over €17,000.
Are you a non-resident who needs help with your Irish Taxes? If so, start here
