Core personal credits / credit

Earned Income Tax Credit for the self-employed

Self-employed people and proprietary directors can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, 2,000 euro for 2025 and 2026, limited to 20% of earned income. If you also have PAYE income, the combined Earned Income and Employee credits cannot exceed 2,000 euro.

Written by PAYEWise editorial team, plain-English tax writers working from Revenue sources. Tax review: pending appointment of a named tax-qualified reviewer. Reviewed 28 October 2026.

Who qualifies

Trading, professional or proprietary-director income.

Exclusions and pitfalls

Capped jointly with the Employee .

How to claim, step by step

Claimed in the Personal Tax Credits panel of Form 11.

This checker provides guidance from your answers. Revenue decides whether a claim is accepted. You can claim directly for free using myAccount.

Documents to keep

None

Worked examples

Sole trader qualifies

Profit 40,000 euro; credit 2,000 euro.

Director with PAYE job qualifies

Employee credit 2,000 euro already used; no additional earned income credit.

Investment income only does not qualify

Rental or deposit income is not earned income.

All examples use hypothetical people and figures.

Terms used here

Next steps

This guide is part of a later content wave and will be expanded with more detail after reviewer sign-off.

Sources and review

R2Tax rates, bands and reliefs 2022-2026officialchecked 2026-10-28

Last reviewed 2026-10-28 (awaiting sign-off by a named tax-qualified reviewer). Every factual tax rule on this page is backed by a dated Revenue source. Spotted an error? Use the contact page.

Do it

Claim through Revenue (free)

Priority P2. Reviewed 2026-10-28.