Crypto and non-dom: this is where you should not believe the sales pitch.
With cryptocurrencies, Irish treatment is less generous than some non-dom write-ups suggest. We explain how Revenue actually classes the subject.
How it is classed: CGT, not special rules
Ireland has no crypto tax law. Gains on crypto-assets held privately are subject to Capital Gains Tax; trading as a business falls into income tax. So the rules of the Capital Gains Tax page apply: 31 per cent, an annual exemption of €1,270, and no holding period after which anything would become tax free.
For British readers the last point holds no surprise, because the UK has no holding period either: crypto disposals fall under Capital Gains Tax at 18 or 24 per cent, with an annual exempt amount of £3,000. The surprise sits in the rate. Ireland's 31 per cent is above the top UK rate on gains, so the same sale costs more on the Irish side. If you come from a country where private gains go free after a holding period, Ireland has no counterpart to it, and you bring a tax liability you never reckoned with. Gains taxable in Ireland are declared through self-assessment; the registration for it we take on as tax registration as a non-dom.
The situs doctrine: why non-dom rarely helps here
The thought is an obvious one: as a non-dom I pay tax on foreign gains only when I bring them into Ireland, so I simply leave my crypto gains outside. This is exactly where the guidance that carries this page comes in: Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 02-01-03 (last reviewed January 2026), section 8.
On Revenue’s reading, a crypto-asset held in the cloud is not situated anywhere and so cannot count as "situated outside the State". The burden of proving a location abroad lies with the taxpayer; if it cannot be shown, the gain is taxed in Ireland under the residence rules.
That is the core, and it deserves a close reading: The remittance basis therefore does not, as a rule, protect holdings kept on an exchange. Revenue does not say that crypto can never be situated abroad; it sets a threshold of proof. If you keep your holdings on an exchange and cannot prove a reliable location abroad, assume that your gains are taxable in Ireland like those of an ordinary resident, non-dom or not.
This sets crypto apart from practically every other part of foreign wealth: with a securities account in London or a shareholding in Amsterdam, the location abroad is obvious; with a coin on an exchange it is, on Revenue's reading, the exception you have to prove.
What remains open
Two gaps we state openly rather than fill.
First: For gift and inheritance tax, Revenue has nowhere set out where crypto-assets are situated. For a family building its estate planning around the Irish five-year clock, that is no footnote; the clock itself is on the page on inheritance and gifts.
Second, the situs doctrine is Revenue's view, not statute and not case law. It can change, in either direction, and anyone planning today plans against the published reading, not against a settled legal position.
How other countries tax crypto, from holding periods to flat taxes, is in the country table of our sister site KryptoSteuern.info (in German); this page stays with Ireland and with leaving home.
The home side: what applies when you leave
What the UK does with crypto holdings when you leave is quickly told, and one of the three answers has a condition attached. Leaving as a whole, well beyond crypto, is set out on the page on leaving the UK.
| Stage | Position |
|---|---|
| Ongoing tax | Capital Gains Tax on each disposal: 18 per cent within the basic rate band, 24 per cent above it; £3,000 annual exempt amount; no holding period |
| On leaving | No exit charge on individuals: the UK does not treat your holdings as sold when you go |
| On returning | Temporary non-residence: back within five years, after at least 4 of the 7 tax years before departure as a UK resident, gains on assets you held before leaving and sold while abroad are taxed in the year you return |
The temporary non-residence rule has further conditions; whether it reaches you depends on your residence history in the years before you leave.
Source: GOV.UK, Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances; HMRC Cryptoassets Manual CRYPTO22100; HMRC helpsheet HS278 "Temporary non-residents and Capital Gains Tax"; Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45, paragraph 110. As of: retrieved 6 November 2026.
For British readers this produces a calculation worth making: a disposal before the move costs UK Capital Gains Tax at 18 or 24 per cent, while the same disposal after the move, as an Irish resident, costs Irish CGT at 31 per cent, and if you come back to the UK within five years the temporary non-residence rule can bring the gain into UK tax as well, in the year you return. Realised before the move, the proceeds are clean capital and belong kept separate under the rules of the page The account before 1 January. After the move, that order is no longer open. Whether it is the right one in a given case depends on more than tax, and that is exactly what the consultation is for.
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The first step is a conversation
Whether your holdings are best realised before or after the move is a calculation across two legal systems.