Reply to my request for SYT:
Dear XXXX,
I acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence and I apologise for the delay.
I have reviewed the information provided and I can confirm that as you departed Ireland on 17th January, you have less than 30 days in 2025 and would be considered Non-Resident for the year. As such, Split Year Treatment is not applicable.
I can confirm that you are not taxable on your Foreign Income in Ireland from your date of departure as your duties of employment have not been carried out in Ireland.
At the end of the 2025 Tax Year, please ensure you file your Income Tax Return via myAccount.
Kind Regards,
YYY
National NRU
Personal Division
My first push back:
Dear YYY,
Thank you sincerely for your response. I just wanted to confirm that I have taken annual leave here from the job in ZZZ and therefore spent some of that time in Ireland in 2025 - so I think I am correct to note that the 30 day rule does not apply as I believe that any days spent in Ireland, even if it is on leave from abroad, count as residence days?
It is because of this, therefore, that I am applying for the inyear granting of SYT so hence my request that Revenue would confirm that I have been granted in year SYT as per the December 2024 guidance on the residency of individuals which says that in year SYT can be applied for?
Reply
Dear XXXX,
I acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence.
I note that Split Year Treatment in the Year of Departure would Only apply if you left Ireland as a Resident and did not return after your date of departure.
As all of your duties of employment have been carried out in ZZZZ, you would not be taxable on this foreign income in Ireland.
Kind Regards
Next push back from me:
Dear YYY,
Thank you for your help and your reply confirming that I will not be liable to be charged tax on the income earned here in ZZZZ.
However, I would like to query your reply regarding the application for in-year SYT in the year of departure? I note, for example, that Revenue guidance on SYT
(
https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-profe...ains-tax-corporation-tax/part-34/34-OO-i1.pdf) notes:
"Departure cases
The individual must satisfy an authorised officer of the Revenue Commissioners during the year of departure that he/she has left the State with the intention of being non-resident in the year following departure. An intended absence from the State for a continuous period of 15 months will generally ensure that this test is satisfied. Additionally, the absence from the State must be for a purpose other than a temporary purpose.
The requirement to satisfy an authorised officer that these conditions will be satisfied must be done by the individual during the actual year of arrival or departure (in-year requirement)."
and also notes that
"Return visits to the State for holidays will not affect the application of split year treatment, provided all the other conditions of section 822 TCA 1997 are satisfied."
Therefore, as I left this year having signed a three year contract (copy previously submitted) and I do not intend to return until that contract is finished; and as I have only returned on holidays, I am unclear as to why SYT does not apply to me? Indeed speaking to other Irish colleagues here in the last number of days they have confirmed that they have previously applied for and been granted in-year SYT so hence my confusion?
Thanking you again for your help
Next reply from Revenue
Dear XXXX,
I acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence.
For Split Year Treatment to apply to you, you must be considered Resident in Ireland from your final date of departure and not return to Ireland from your departure date. As you departed Ireland on the 17th of January, you have less than 30 days in Ireland and would not be considered Resident, therefore Split Year Treatment can not apply.
I refer to the Qualifying Conditions outlined in the Tax and Duty Manual Part34-OO-11 (3):
Qualifying conditions
To qualify for SYT for the year of arrival/departure, the following conditions apply:
• the individual must be resident in the State for the year of arrival/departure
I pushed back again:
Dear YYY,
Thanks again for your quick response. As per my message on 29/10, I have been in Ireland during annual leave periods from my job here in ZZZZ and I have, therefore, been in Ireland for more than 30 days.
Given that I believe that any day in Ireland is counted as residence my understanding is that I do therefore meet that condition?
Final reply to me:
Dear XXXX,
I acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence.
Please note, you must be considered Resident in Ireland
before your date of departure to qualify for Split Year Treatment.
As you departed Ireland with only 17 days in 2025, you do not qualify as Resident from your date of departure.
To be honest I gave up at that stage. As you can see above, I tried over and over to query the situation and I was completely transparent in noting I had visited Ireland and I was getting absolutely nowhere. It made no sense whatsoever to have me that the view would be I was not resident at the time of my departure in January 2025 as I had lived all my life in Ireland prior to that and therefore, given that I was paying tax on Irish income until the week I departed I was fighting her to say I was resident at the time of departure. So in fact, again as you can see above, you had the quite bizarre situation where I was arguing I had a potential liability on my foreign income because I had been returning to Ireland while the Revenue agent was adamant I would be not liable. So we were almost the wrong way around from what you would normally expect. And this is now potentially a big problem for me and I am really unhappy that I could have a liability because it looks like, to be blunt, a Revenue agent was completely in the wrong. You can also note that I will have income for 2026 in the form of a redundancy payment and money earned so far this year - so I assume that is also liable to be taxed unless I appeal?
Or the other alternative is that I make a return on the basis of the agent stating on a number of occasions that I did not owe tax but do I assume that becomes my problem if they follow up? Or is it their problem if I have been told the factually wrong thing by their agent?
