Retirement

Steps

1. Before leaving, ask for the S1 form from the fund that pays your pension (or your health insurance fund). It proves that your country covers your healthcare.
2. Settle in and keep proof of residence (lease or deed of purchase, bills, bank statements): the HSE (Health Service Executive, the public health service) asks for them to prove that you are ordinarily resident.
3. Apply for your PPS number (sheet IE-NIF-TOUS-001), useful for health, taxes and banking.
4. Apply for your medical card with the application form and your S1: if your country confirms your entitlement, no means test. Your dependants can also benefit (sheet IE-SANTE-TOUS-001).
5. Take stock of your taxes. As a tax resident (183 days in the year, or 280 days over two years: sheet IE-IMPOTS-TOUS-001), you declare your foreign pensions to Revenue on Form 11 (self-assessment regime), because no Irish tax is withheld at source on them.
6. Tell your pension fund about your change of address and, if the tax treaty provides for it, ask it to stop withholding tax where you live (the tax residence form to be stamped by Revenue depends on your fund and your country: ask which one).
7. At 65 and over, apply for the DIRT exemption (tax withheld on savings interest) with form DE1 if your income stays below the ceiling.
8. At 66 and over, once permanently settled, you are entitled to free bus and train travel (free travel), to be requested from the Department of Social Protection.

Documents

• Passport or ID card.
• S1 form from your fund (one per person covered, in general).
• Proof of residence in Ireland dated less than 12 months ago.
• Annual statements of your foreign pensions (gross amounts, paying body, type: public, civil service or private).
• Proof of resources and health insurance if you are asked for them (right of residence of an economically inactive person).

Costs and timelines

• Right of residence: free, no card to apply for as a European or Swiss citizen (sheet IE-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• Income tax exemption ceilings at 65 and over (in force since 2020): €18,000 a year for a single or widowed person, €36,000 for a married couple or civil partners (if one of them is 65), plus €575 for each of the first 2 children and €830 for the following ones. Just above (less than double the ceiling), a simplified calculation (marginal relief) may apply: 40% on the part that exceeds it, without tax credits. These ceilings do not apply to the USC.
• Age Tax Credit (2026): €245 for a single person, €490 for a couple, in addition to the personal credit (€2,000) and, if you receive an occupational pension, a Department of Social Protection payment or a social security pension from another EU Member State, the employee credit (€2,000 at most, in full from €10,000 of income; sheet IE-IMPOTS-TOUS-002).
• USC: foreign public pensions (social security) and Irish social security pensions are exempt from it; supplementary and occupational pensions are subject to it, at a reduced rate at 70 and over if your income does not exceed €60,000.
• PRSI: no contribution on pensions; nothing at all after 70.
• Budget 2027: no change announced for the Age Tax Credit or the exemption ceilings; the personal and employee credits go to €2,125 (still to be voted).

Common pitfalls

• Forgetting the S1. Without it, access to the medical card depends on a means test of your income, and GP consultations are paid.
• Also receiving an Irish pension. If you receive an Irish contributory benefit (such as the State Pension (Contributory)), you come under the Irish system: the "European" medical card no longer applies, the normal means test applies instead (free with no income condition for the GP visit card at 70 and over).
• Believing your foreign pension is not taxable. As a resident, your foreign income is in principle taxable in Ireland. A foreign pension that would be exempt in its country if you lived there may also be exempt in Ireland.
• Confusing public pension and civil service pension. The treaties with Portugal (art. 18 and 19) and the United Kingdom (art. 17 and 18) tax private pensions in the country of residence (Ireland) and former civil servants' pensions in the paying country, with an exception if you hold the nationality of the country of residence. Each treaty is different: check yours or get advice (high-risk sheet).
• Paying twice. If your former country keeps withholding a tax that should go to Ireland, ask for a refund there or a tax credit in Ireland depending on the treaty.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens, Swiss citizens: free residence for the first 3 months, then sufficient resources and comprehensive health insurance required (the S1 serves as proof of insurance); medical card with the S1.
• British citizens (Scots included): no residence condition thanks to the Common Travel Area. If you receive a British State pension and live in Ireland, you can have a medical card with the British S1; a card obtained before Brexit remains valid. Ireland–United Kingdom tax treaty for your pensions (sheet IE-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).
• Irish citizens returning: Citizens Information has a dedicated page on returning home for retirement.
• Irish State pension and careers in several countries: sheet IE-RETRAITE-TOUS-002.