Ireland VAT Onboarding

Your Irish onboarding in one page

Onboarding is everything between signing up for Irish VAT with Taxually and the day we file your first Irish VAT return. It has three steps, and you are only active in the first one.

1. You tell us about your business, upload your documents and sign the forms we prepare in the Taxually portal: a power of attorney for the Irish tax authority and, for a new registration, the official Irish VAT registration form, already filled in from your answers. Most clients finish this in one sitting if they have their documents ready.

2. We check everything and file it with the Irish tax authority (Revenue). If a document or an answer needs fixing, the portal sends that one item back to you with the reason.

3. Revenue issues your Irish VAT number, or links us to your existing registration as your tax agent, and we switch on filing.

At the end you have either a new Irish VAT number with an effective date of registration, or your existing Irish registration handed over to Taxually for filing. Your portal shows the status of every item throughout, so you always know whether the next move is yours or ours.

Which path you are on

The service you bought, where your business is established and what type of business you are decide most of what you will see. Find your row; the rest of this guide points out where your path differs.

What you sell changes some questions and documents, not the path: sellers of physical goods tell us how their goods reach Ireland, and Amazon sellers upload two Amazon documents. A business established in another EU country that sells only digital services does not register in Ireland: it declares Irish VAT on those services through the EU One-Stop Shop in its own country.

What we will ask you

The questions come in short cards. In the portal every question carries a short description and, where it helps, extra information next to it; read those before you answer, they are written for exactly that question. Most questions are straightforward facts about your business; the few that need thought are marked below.

• Your business: legal form, legal name exactly as registered, registered address, incorporation date and registration number, trading name, postal address and financial year end.

• What and where you sell: your product type (physical, digital or both), your product categories and every channel you sell through, with the storefront link. Amazon sellers also tell us whether they use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), ship themselves (FBM) or both.

• Who signs for your business: your legal representatives' personal details, ID details, home address, email and phone. Add your primary legal representative first: this person signs the forms, and their ID must match. Companies add every director exactly as listed in the company register.

• Who owns your business (companies): every shareholder, people and companies, until the shareholdings add up to exactly 100%, with their Irish tax reference or PPS number if they have one.

• Bank details: IBAN, BIC or SWIFT and bank name.

• Ireland-specific questions: see the boxes below; this is where a wrong answer costs the most.

If you are registering: the start date question

Businesses established outside Ireland have no registration threshold: your Irish VAT obligation starts with your first taxable sale in Ireland. We ask whether your registration should be effective from an earlier date. If you already sell in Ireland, answer Yes and give the exact date of your first sale; check your sales records or marketplace reports before you answer. If you answer No, your registration starts on the first day of the month in which we submit your application. If your business is established in Ireland, a registration threshold applies: if your turnover has gone over it, answer Yes and give the date it did; if you register voluntarily, answer No.

A past date means a retrospective registration: returns for every period since then are filed retrospectively, Revenue may charge late-registration penalties and interest, and Taxually charges a separate fee for retrospective filings. A wrong date causes far more trouble than an honest past one.

Your business activity and your goods

We ask for a short description of what you sell, to whom and how, in two or three sentences. Keep each free-text answer under 250 characters: it is printed on the official Irish form, and longer text does not fit.

If you sell physical goods outside Amazon FBA, we ask where your goods are stored and which couriers deliver them to Irish customers. If you trade with VAT-registered businesses in other EU countries, we ask whether your Irish VAT number should be enabled for intra-EU trade (VIES) and a few questions about those customers and suppliers. If you sell physical goods on Amazon, we don't ask these questions: Amazon requires your VAT number to be enabled for EU trade so that you can sell on its marketplaces, so we always enable it for you.

What Revenue needs to know about your company

Revenue checks company registrations closely, so we ask about: every director and your company secretary, exactly as registered with the Companies Registration Office (CRO), Companies House or your home register; whether you have a permanent business presence or an address for your books and records in Ireland (your accountant's address or an Amazon warehouse does not count); whether you rent your Irish business address; any business you have taken over; and any Irish tax numbers your business has held before.

Sole traders and partnerships

Sole traders must have a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) before we can register them. Revenue does not accept an Irish VAT registration for a sole trader without it, so we can only submit your application once you have given us your PPSN. It has 7 digits followed by 1 or 2 letters, for example 1234567A.

If you don't have a PPSN yet, please apply for it straight away. You need to apply yourself; we cannot apply on your behalf. Your VAT registration waits until the number arrives.

How to apply:

1. Download and complete form REG1: application form for a PPS number.

2. Download and complete the PPS number questionnaire. As the reason for your application, choose the last option and enter "Required for VAT registration in Ireland".

3. Email both forms, with the documents below, to CIS@welfare.ie as soon as possible.

Documents to send with your application:

• the completed REG1 form

• the completed questionnaire

• evidence of your identity: a copy of your passport, or a copy of your driving licence and your birth certificate

• evidence of your address: a utility bill, bank statement or official letter clearly showing your name and address, not older than 3 months

• evidence of why you need a PPSN

More information: gov.ie: Get a Personal Public Service (PPS) number. Once you receive your PPSN, enter it in the portal and we submit your VAT registration.

Non-EU, EEA, UK or Swiss citizens who live in Ireland also give their Irish Residence Permit and immigration stamp, if they have them. Partnerships list every partner (at least two), with their Irish tax reference number if they have one.

If you are transferring an existing registration

Only a few things: your Irish VAT number, the date your registration became effective, how often you currently file and, if you sell physical goods, your Intrastat position. Get the filing frequency exactly right: we set up your Irish returns on the frequency you tell us, so check it against your most recent Irish return before you answer. No start-date, activity or company-structure questions.

Documents to have ready

Upload PDF, PNG or JPEG scans. Every detail on a document must match what you typed: name, address, numbers, dates. We and Revenue compare them line by line, and a mismatch is the most common reason an item comes back.

A transfer needs only the company or licence document, the home tax certificate and the ID: no evidence of trade and no Irish VAT certificate.

Forms we prepare for you

We fill these forms in from your answers. Download each one, review it, print it, sign it by hand in the red box (electronic signatures are not accepted), scan it and upload all pages. Do not edit the printed text or add anything by hand: we cannot accept an edited form. The signature must match the one on the ID you uploaded, and the signer must be your primary legal representative (for a partnership, the precedent partner).

If your company has more than four shareholders, they are listed on a separate "Shareholders Details" page at the end of the form; upload that page too. Sign and upload the registration form quickly: if you did not give an earlier start date, the form starts your registration on the first day of the month it was generated in, and if we cannot submit it in that month we will need a new form signed.

After you submit

When every item in the Ireland card is complete you press "Confirm all data for Ireland". From then on the work is ours and Revenue’s, and the Ireland card in your tracking view shows one step per stage.

If something is sent back

The item reopens in your portal with a rejection reason. The reason tells you which of two things to do:

• The document itself is the problem (unreadable, wrong document, a page missing, expired, edited, signature does not match your ID): upload the correct document in place of the old one. The earlier upload is kept in the item’s history on our side, nothing is lost.

• The document is fine but does not match what you typed (a name, address, number or date): leave the document and correct the answer instead, in the card where you entered it, then confirm the card again. If the answer is one of the signup questions (legal form, legal name, address), go back to the Business basics card; the rejection does not yet point you there automatically. If the answer feeds one of the forms you signed, we prepare a new form for you to sign.

How long it takes

Verification is fastest when the first upload is complete and every detail matches; each item sent back adds a round trip. Revenue’s processing times vary and are outside our control, and Revenue may come back with questions about your business, which we handle with you. Your tracking view updates as soon as we hear back.

Transferring an existing Irish registration to us

A transfer is the shorter path: your registration already exists, so we only need its details and your authorisation.

1. You tell us your Irish VAT number, the date your registration became effective (as shown on your certificate or Revenue letter), how often you currently file (monthly, every two months, every four months, every six months or annually, exactly as on your latest Irish return) and, if you sell physical goods, whether you have an Intrastat obligation and for which flows (arrivals, dispatches or both).

2. You upload your company registration document or business licence, your home tax certificate (where applicable) and your legal representative’s ID. No Irish VAT certificate is needed.

3. You sign the Agent Link Notification.

4. We send Revenue our agent link request. Depending on your Revenue account, one of two things happens: Revenue asks you to approve it (your portal shows "Accept our agent request in ROS" — log in to ROS, open the Revenue Record tab and your ROS Inbox, open "Agent-Link Approval", check that the request is from Taxually and select Approve; if you use myAccount instead, go to MyEnquiries, open the "Agent-Client Link" request and select Approve; please approve within 30 days, otherwise the request expires and we have to send a new one), or Revenue accepts it straight away (your portal shows "Agent access with Revenue" — there is nothing for you to do; our access usually becomes active within a few days).

5. Once our access is active we confirm it in your portal and start filing your returns from the next open period on your existing cycle. Keep filing with your previous provider until we confirm the handover date with you, so no period is missed.

Frequently asked questions and common blockers

Do I need a fiscal representative in Ireland? No. You authorise Taxually as your tax agent with Revenue through the Agent Link Notification, and we deal with Revenue on your behalf.

Which date will my registration start from, and what if it is in the past? From your first taxable sale in Ireland. If you already sell there, give that exact date; a past date means retrospective returns, possible penalties and interest from Revenue, and a separate Taxually fee. If you have not started, your registration starts on the first day of the month in which we submit your application. If your business is established in Ireland, a threshold applies: if your turnover has gone over it, give the date it did; if you register voluntarily, your registration starts on the first day of the month in which we submit your application.

Is there a registration threshold? Not for businesses established outside Ireland: if you supply goods in Ireland, for example from stock held in an Irish warehouse, you must register regardless of your turnover. Businesses established in Ireland must register once their yearly turnover passes €85,000 for goods or €42,500 for services, and can register voluntarily below that.

Which registration form will I get? Companies get a TR2, sole traders and partnerships a TR1. If your business is established outside Ireland you get the non-resident version, marked (FT). We choose the right one from your answers and fill it in for you.

Why do you ask about every director, shareholder and the company secretary? Revenue checks them against the company register and can reject a registration if someone is missing or a detail differs. Shareholdings must add up to exactly 100%, small ones included.

What is a PPS number and do I need one? The Personal Public Service Number is Ireland’s personal number for tax and public services: 7 digits followed by 1 or 2 letters, for example 1234567A. Sole traders must have one before we can submit; you apply for it yourself, and the portal explains how. Shareholders, secretaries and partners must give theirs if they have one.

What counts as a permanent business presence in Ireland? A fixed place of business, such as an office, a branch or a workshop, or a person who concludes contracts for you there. Your accountant’s address, an Amazon fulfilment centre or a third-party warehouse does not count.

Why must my free-text answers stay under 250 characters? They are printed into fixed boxes on the official form, and longer text does not fit.

Can I sign the forms electronically or correct them by hand? No to both. Print the forms, sign them by hand with a pen in the red box, then scan and upload all pages; the signature must match your ID. We cannot accept electronic signatures: Revenue has rejected registration forms signed this way. We also cannot accept a form with handwritten changes: correct the answer in the portal, and we prepare a new form for you to sign.

Which product type should I choose? Physical Products for tangible goods, Digital Products and Services for anything delivered without a physical product (software, SaaS, courses, e-books, subscriptions, consulting, design), Both only if you really sell both. It cannot be changed once your subscription is active. A digital seller established outside the EU cannot select Ireland or any other EU country individually; the non-Union One-Stop Shop (EN) is the right choice. A digital seller established in another EU country uses the One-Stop Shop of its own country.

How often will I file? Revenue sets your filing frequency when it registers you; most businesses file every two months. We tell you your schedule when your VAT number arrives. For a transfer we file on your existing cycle.

What is Intrastat? The statistical report on goods moving between EU countries. It applies only once your arrivals into or dispatches out of Ireland pass Revenue’s yearly thresholds. We ask about it when you transfer an existing registration.

How long does Revenue take? Processing times vary and are outside our control. Your tracking view updates as soon as we hear back.