FX Rates for Irish Tax

Irish taxes are calculated and filed in EUR, but real life isn’t always euro - think USD salary, GBP rental income, share sales in dollars, or foreign dividends.

Using the wrong rate can:

• overstate/understate income or gains,
• create mismatches vs. payroll/bank records,
• trigger questions during a review.

The 2 FX approaches you’ll use most

1) Daily rate (spot rate)

Use when the tax position depends on a specific date (e.g., payment date, invoice date, disposal date).

A common benchmark people use is the ECB euro reference rate, which is published each working day.

2) Annual average rate

Use when you have lots of similar transactions across the year (e.g., monthly foreign salary, regular pension, repeated foreign bank interest) and it’s reasonable to average.

Revenue publishes guidance on annual average exchange rates and updates it periodically.

Where to get FX rates that are easy to defend

Here are the most “clean” sources to reference in a file note:

• European Central Bank: euro reference exchange rates (daily).
• Central Bank of Ireland: publishes exchange rates and notes they’re the ECB reference rates (1999+).
• Revenue Commissioners: annual average exchange rates guidance (helpful for year totals).

Tip: Revenue also publishes exchange rates for customs valuation - useful for imports/exports, but it’s a different context than income tax/CGT filing.

Common Irish tax scenarios

Foreign salary / pension / regular income

• Best practice: annual average rate for year totals, daily rate for one-off payments.
• Keep a note of the source you used (ECB/Revenue average) and stick with it consistently for that income stream.

Foreign dividends / interest

• If it’s occasional: daily rate on the receipt date is often simplest.
• If frequent: annual average can be practical, provided you’re consistent and can explain it.

Capital Gains Tax on foreign shares/crypto/foreign currency

CGT computations are built in euro terms - i.e., euro value at acquisition vs euro value at disposal (so FX can affect your gain/loss). Revenue manuals describe gains/losses being computed by reference to the corresponding euro values of cost and proceeds.

For CGT events, use a date-specific rate for both buy and sell dates.

VAT on foreign-currency invoices (businesses)

Irish guidance for VAT commonly points to using the latest selling rate recorded by the Central Bank/ECB at the relevant time tax becomes due.
(If you use another method, it generally needs to be applied consistently.)

The “Revenue-proof” method: do this every time

1. Pick a rate source (ECB daily, Revenue annual average) that matches your scenario.
2. Be consistent within the same income/gain type for the year.
3. Save evidence: screenshot/PDF link/export of the rate used + date/time.
4. Document your rule in one line:
5. “Converted USD dividends using ECB reference rate on receipt date” or
6. “Converted GBP employment income using Revenue annual average rate for the tax year.

Need help? Irish Tax Hub can manage your FX rates for Irish tax

At Irish Tax Hub, we help individuals and businesses with foreign currency income, investments, and transactions to:

• Confirm which FX rate method to use (ECB daily vs annual average) for your situation
• Convert foreign income correctly for Irish tax returns (PAYE, self-assessed, rental, dividends)
• Calculate CGT on foreign shares/crypto using the right euro values at purchase and sale
• Prepare clear backup records (rate source, dates, screenshots) to support your filing
• Fix common issues like mixed-rate reporting, missing evidence, or inconsistent conversions
• Keep you on track for pay & file deadlines with clean, Revenue-ready calculations

Contact the Irish Tax Hub team today and we’ll sort your currency conversions and filing support.