Good morning US folks & good afternoon Irish folks!
My wife and I decided that now is the time to make the move to Ireland. She is an Irish citizen (with dual citizenship, living in the US currently) and we just got done with a 2-month stay in Ireland that was absolutely incredible. It gave me the perspective I need to realize that the life we want to live is easiest to do in Ireland and it's frankly not even a close comparison. With not having to pay $800/month in US health insurance costs + the children's allowance + cheaper rent for bigger homes (in County Mayo), it's actually ridiculous how much easier it'll be to live off one income & allow my wife to stay home & raise our kids, which ultimately is the life we want to live and that's what it all boils down to.
From what I've read (here and elsewhere) being the spouse of an Irish citizen doesn't entitle me to residency, but at the same time it doesn't seem too hard to obtain once I'm there.
My biggest concern is being able to continue work for my current employer that is based in the US. I worked remotely for them while on my 2-month stay & the advantages they saw from me working in a different time zone means they are definitely excited & open to the idea of getting those advantages permanently. My biggest questions boil down to 1) how do they legally employ me as a EU resident? and 2) how do Irish taxes work for income earned from a US company by a US citizen who just happens to live in Ireland?
I've heard that the answer to question #1 might be to become a 1099 contractor, but I'm curious what the effective changes are as far as taxes/PTO/etc are for that if anyone has experienced something like this.
Thanks to anyone who has any info that can help me!
Hey Jordan
Welcome to the site 🙂
I worked in Ireland twice as a US-based employee so maybe I can offer some insight. There may be other ways about doing this but here's a few notes on my experience.
The first time around, I actually gave up my permanent US role, and was then hired with an Irish based staffing firm who also had offices in the US. Between the US and Irish staffing folks, they figured out paying me and all the other employment details. That was something the company I worked for arranged for me.
The second time, I kept my permanent role, and just transferred to an EU office of the company. This was definitely a better option, because I retained PTO, benefits, etc. I was in affect an employee in Ireland, just doing work for a dept in the states.
Regarding taxation etc, if you work in Ireland for greater than 183 days then you need to pay taxes in Ireland. Here's more info on that https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/tax-residence/how-to-know-if-you-are-resident-for-tax-purposes.aspx
I hope this helps. Feel free to fire back with any questions
Liam
Hi Liam! Thanks for the reply. So essentially you get taxed twice in the same income when working for a US company while living in Ireland? That’s kind of a bummer. If I happened to move over after July 1st (which is sort of the plan anyways) would that then mean I wouldn’t have to pay Irish taxes for that year? Would make the transition period a bit easier. Is the amount of taxes taken in Ireland similar to what the US takes?
Also my company doesn’t have an office outside the US but I wonder if they could establish one for the purposes of employing me as an EU resident? Not sure how much of a pain that would be, probably not an easy question to answer
https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/blog/paying-taxes-american-living-abroad/
just found the above link that talks about the Foreign Earned Income Exemption that means I can exclude up to $102,000 of foreign-earned income from my taxes to avoid double taxation. Not sure how that applies to working for a US company but it’s good to know
No you wont be taxed twice. Unfortunately USA is one of two countries in the world where your income is taxable/reportable just because you are a citizen, i.e you have to file US taxes every year. Like you say, the exemption is there, and it does protect most people from being taxed twice, or at least a large part of their income.
Depending on when you arrive & how much you earn you may not pay any Irish tax in your first year. I did not. It was sweet 🙂
Can't say whether the tax % in Ireland vs US is similar/different. It's so situational and your personal circumstances affect it greatly. You can probably get an accurate assessment of what to expect on revenue.ie.
Hello gents, I find myself in a very similar situation. I can go 1099 in the US (and sole trader in Ireland) but I'm curious--can I stay on salary for the US company and list myself as sole trader in Ireland? The US company is not on PAYE or registered in Ireland. My taxes would be taken out of my paychecks in the US as normal, but then on my Irish tax return I could list the foreign tax deducted.
I'm just not sure if I can be salaried in US and sole trader in Ireland at the same time. Any insight?
Not sure, Kevin. These things are probably best answered by tax pros. I have availed of taxesforexpats services in the past for tax filing. They offer a consultation service too. There are probably plenty of other options too. Would love to hear from you when you find out how to handle this.
This is such a helpful thread, was wondering if I could chime in on a similar situation.
I'm a dual French/US Citizen (with dual passports) and my fiancé is a US Citizen in the middle of getting his Polish citizenship and passport (we're based in Los Angeles and both come from jewish families with the right of return). We'd love to move to Ireland in the next year or so, after his paperwork is finalized.
He currently works remotely for a small US-based company. I'm curious about which direction to look into for his worker status/tax info, as we shouldn't need any work visas (being EU citizens) but it's still a foreign US company. (The company has employees based in Canada and the Philippines so they do some international sourcing.)
Thanks in advance if there's any info we should know!