Form 11 for the first time: a checklist for Irish sole traders

If you started working for yourself in Ireland, your first Form 11 is the moment the tax system stops being abstract. Here is what it is, when it is due, and what to have on the table before you or your accountant open ROS.

Who files Form 11

Form 11 is the annual income tax return for people who are chargeable persons. In practice that means you if any of these applies:

• You are self-employed, a sole trader or in a partnership.
• You have rental income from property.
• You are a PAYE employee with non-PAYE income above the Revenue threshold, or with gross non-PAYE income above the higher threshold, even if the tax due is small.
• You are a proprietary director, holding more than 15 percent of a company.

If you only have PAYE income and small extras, you file the shorter Form 12 instead. Not sure which applies to you? That is the first question we settle on a free call.

The two deadlines

• 31 October is the statutory deadline for the paper return and for paying what you owe.
• Mid-November is the extended deadline for people who file and pay through ROS. Revenue announces the exact date each year. File online and you get the extra weeks.

Miss both and a surcharge is added to your bill: 5 percent if you are up to two months late, 10 percent after that. Interest runs on top.

Preliminary tax: the part that surprises people

When you file for last year, you also pay preliminary tax for this year. To avoid interest, your preliminary payment must be at least one of:

• 90 percent of this year’s final liability, or
• 100 percent of last year’s liability, or
• 105 percent of the year before last, if you pay by direct debit.

Most first-year sole traders pay 100 percent of last year, because it is the only number they know. Budget for it: your first October effectively carries two years of tax.

What to have ready

1. Your income records. Every invoice or sales report for the tax year, 1 January to 31 December.
2. Bank statements for the business account, and for any personal account you used for business.
3. Expense receipts, sorted by type: materials, subcontractors, software, phone, travel, insurance, professional fees.
4. Motor and home-office use. The percentage of your car and of your home you use for business, with a sensible basis for it.
5. Capital items bought in the year: laptop, equipment, van. These are written off over eight years, not deducted in full.
6. PAYE details if you also had a job: your Employment Detail Summary from myAccount.
7. Pension contributions, medical expenses, tuition fees and any other reliefs you want to claim.
8. Last year’s return and preliminary tax paid, so this year’s figures reconcile.

The mistakes we see most

• Mixing personal and business money in one account. It is legal, but it doubles the bookkeeping time and the fee.
• Forgetting preliminary tax, then paying interest on money you had.
• Claiming 100 percent of the phone and the car. Revenue expects a business share, not everything.
• Filing on paper in October when ROS would have given you the extra weeks.

What it costs to have it done

Our Form 11 service starts at €299 for Review and Submit when your figures are ready, and €430 for Full Service when the records need tidying first. The fee is fixed before we start and we file only after you approve the draft. See the pricing page for what is included.

This article is general information, not advice for your specific situation. Rules and thresholds change; check the current Revenue guidance or ask us before you act.