Irish savings vs the Personal Investment Account.

The tax, at a glance.

Where the tax goes.

* Tax on the traditional ETF investment is only due when the fund is sold, or automatically every 8 years under deemed disposal. No tax is charged in the years in between. The tax figure shown covers any deemed disposal falling within the selected period, plus exit tax on the sale assumed at the end of that period. The chart snapshots the value after each hypothetical sale, but sale tax is never deducted from the continuing investment.

Savings and cash-interest accounts.

One account per provider, gross AER, terms checked on each provider's own site on 20 October 2026. Rates drop on larger balances where the provider says so, and the calculator applies those limits. DIRT of 33% applies to each year's interest (foreign interest is self-declared at the same rate), so a 2.00% headline rate is roughly 1.34% in your hand.

How the maths works.

• Savings account: how often interest is paid depends on the account: some pay daily (such as Trading 212 and Revolut), some monthly, some quarterly, and some yearly or at maturity (fixed terms). For a like-for-like comparison, the calculator spreads the stated AER evenly across the year. AER already reflects compounding, so the yearly result matches the advertised rate whatever the payment schedule. At each year end, 33% DIRT is deducted from that year's interest, not the account balance. The reduced balance then earns interest in the following year. For example, €10,000 at 2% with no contributions earns €200 in year one: €66 DIRT leaves €10,134. In practice, Irish banks deduct DIRT when interest is paid, so deduction dates vary by provider. Interest from non-Irish providers such as Trading 212 or Raisin is not subject to DIRT at source: Revenue generally taxes EU-sourced deposit interest at the same rate as DIRT, and you declare it yourself. Where a provider holds cash in money market funds rather than bank deposits, the tax treatment can differ.
• Traditional ETF investment: the same market return, minus 0.25% a year in combined ongoing costs (platform plus fund running costs). No annual tax on unrealised gains is deducted. For ETFs subject to the Irish fund-tax regime, 35% exit tax applies to gains on sale and every 8 years through deemed disposal, even without a sale. The final result assumes sale at the end of the selected period; no gain means no exit tax in this model. Distributions are excluded. Direct shares have different CGT and dividend-tax rules and are not modelled here.
• PIA: the same market return and the same 0.25% ongoing costs, with 1% charged each year only on the account value above the fixed €50,000 threshold (e.g. €52,000 → 1% × €2,000 = €20). The charge is paid out of the account each year, so later growth is on the smaller balance, as with DIRT: in that example, €51,980 carries into the next year. Following the Finance Bill, the 1% is worked out on the account's average daily value across the year, not its year-end value. Money paid in late in the year only counts for the days it was in the account, so a growing account is charged on less than its December balance. The calculator estimates that average from smooth growth through each month, with each monthly payment arriving at month end. Real accounts are valued each business day, so the actual charge will differ slightly. See what the Bill settles and what is still open.

Why 0.25%? Ongoing costs for Irish ETF investors range from €0 at app-first brokers (Trading 212, Trade Republic) and roughly 0.05% a year at €1-per-trade brokers such as DEGIRO, to around 1% a year at traditional Irish platforms — Davy Select's €200 minimum annual fee alone is 1% of a €20,000 portfolio, before its 0.50% per-trade commission — and the funds themselves carry running costs of roughly 0.07–0.25% on top (Irish broker fee comparison, Davy Select fees). We use 0.25% as a mid-range, all-in assumption for a low-cost buy-and-hold portfolio. Because the same figure is applied to both investment columns, the PIA-versus-ETF comparison does not hinge on it. PIA provider fees have not been announced; this assumption stands until firms publish their terms.

Projections are illustrative, in nominal terms, and assume a constant return with no withdrawals along the way. Real markets do not move in straight lines. This is general information, not investment or tax advice. Capital at risk.