VAT Registration Threshold in Ireland: When You Must Register

Registering for VAT becomes obligatory when your annual turnover exceeds a VAT threshold. Revenue's principal thresholds include €42,500 for a business supplying services only and €85,000 for a business supplying goods. Below a threshold you may still choose to register, for example to reclaim VAT on start-up costs.

Everything below follows Revenue's own pages, linked in each section and listed at the end. They were checked on 27 September 2026.

Revenue's thresholds

From What are the VAT thresholds? (Revenue, published 6 May 2026):

A business not established in Ireland must register, whatever its turnover, if it supplies taxable goods or services to taxable customers in Ireland, unless it uses the VAT SME Scheme.

How turnover is counted

Revenue counts the total value, without VAT, in a calendar year of:

1. supplies of taxable goods and services,
2. supplies of immovable goods,
3. certain financial transactions,
4. insurance and reinsurance services.

Left out: occasional disposals of business assets such as buildings, vehicles or machines; transfers of goods to a non-EU country without a supply; and exempt cross-border supplies of new means of transport.

Revenue's example on the same page: a trader sells goods worth €70,000 in 2025 and, once, a delivery van for €20,000. The van is an incidental sale of a business asset, so it is disregarded: Revenue gives the trader's annual turnover for the purposes of the VAT SME Scheme as €70,000.

Registering early, or below a threshold

From Who should register for VAT? (Revenue, published 8 December 2025):

• If you have set up a business but have not yet supplied taxable goods or services, you may reclaim VAT on your start-up costs. To do so, you must register for VAT.
• Traders whose turnover is below the thresholds, farmers and sea fishers are not generally obliged to register, but they may elect to.
• A person carrying out only exempt or non-taxable activities may not register for VAT, but may have to register in certain situations, such as acquiring goods from other EU Member States or receiving services from abroad.

What to decide with your accountant

• Which threshold fits your mix of goods and services.
• Whether registering before you reach a threshold suits your business.
• Which rate applies to what you sell once you are registered: see VAT rates in Ireland for 2026.

In NumWise

• Say once in Settings whether your business is registered for VAT. While it is not, new invoice lines carry no VAT.
• Once registered, each invoice line takes the rate you choose, and the VAT report and the VAT3 draft are built from your records. See how to complete a VAT3 return.

Sources

All checked on 27 September 2026.

• Revenue, What are the VAT thresholds?, published 6 May 2026.
• Revenue, Who should register for VAT?, published 8 December 2025.