DIRT at 33% on deposit interest.
DIRT deducted
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Net interest received
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Tax taken before the interest reaches you
Deposit Interest Retention Tax, almost always shortened to DIRT, is the tax on interest from Irish savings accounts. Its defining feature is that you never handle it. The bank, credit union, or An Post deducts it at source at 33 percent and pays it straight to Revenue, so the interest credited to your account is already net. There is no form to file and nothing to declare for most savers. This calculator takes the gross interest your account would earn and shows the DIRT taken and the net interest you actually keep.
Because the deduction is automatic, the practical value of the tool is seeing the real return on cash savings rather than the advertised rate. A headline deposit rate is a gross figure. Once DIRT takes a third, the rate that lands in your pocket is meaningfully lower, and that gap is what determines whether a savings account is genuinely beating inflation.
€2,000 of interest, a third gone
Say a deposit earns €2,000 of gross interest in a year. DIRT at 33 percent is €660, deducted by the institution before the money hits your account. You receive €1,340 net. The maths is deliberately simple, but the size of the bite is the point: a third of your interest disappears before you see it, which is why a 3 percent gross rate is really closer to 2 percent in the hand.
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross interest earned | €2,000 |
| DIRT at 33 percent | €660 |
| Net interest received | €1,340 |
DIRT at 33 percent versus the alternatives
It helps to see where 33 percent sits among the other taxes on Irish savings and investments, because the choice of wrapper changes the rate. Cash deposits suffer DIRT at 33 percent. Capital gains on shares sold at a profit are taxed at the same 33 percent under capital gains tax, though there you get an annual exemption on the first slice of gains. Returns from many investment funds and exchange traded funds are different again, taxed at 41 percent exit tax, with a deemed disposal rule that taxes the growth every eight years even if you have not sold. So the headline DIRT rate is not the worst of them, and for an emergency fund or short-term cash a deposit account is perfectly sensible despite the deduction.
When PRSI lands on top of DIRT
One important point on PRSI. In some circumstances deposit interest can also attract PRSI on top of DIRT for certain individuals, which raises the overall charge above the 33 percent figure. This calculator applies only the DIRT, so if PRSI applies to your situation your total tax on the interest would be higher than shown. For most ordinary savers DIRT alone is the relevant charge, but it is worth flagging for anyone with significant interest income.
Can I reclaim DIRT if I am over 65?
Yes, in defined cases. A person aged 65 or over whose total income for the year is below the relevant exemption limit can either apply to have interest paid without DIRT deducted or reclaim the DIRT already taken from Revenue. The same applies to people who are permanently incapacitated. If you do not meet those conditions the 33 percent is final and cannot be reclaimed, so check the income limit before assuming you qualify.
Do I pay DIRT on interest from a foreign bank account?
Not DIRT as such, because a foreign bank does not operate the Irish deduction, but the interest is still taxable. If you are Irish resident and earn interest abroad you must declare it to Revenue, and it is generally taxed at the equivalent DIRT rate through self-assessment rather than being deducted at source. The absence of an automatic deduction does not make foreign interest tax-free, it just shifts the responsibility to you.