What has changed, and when
Two kinds of change matter here: a change in the law, and a change in what this site is able to tell you about it. Both are recorded with dates, because a site that quietly edits itself is asking you to trust a version you cannot see.
Changes in the law
Dated by when the change took effect, newest first. Each entry names the instrument, so you can check it rather than take this page’s word for it.
| Effective | What changed | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | Catering and restaurant supplies, hot takeaway food and hot drinks, and hairdressing moved from 13.5% to 9%. The exclusions inside those categories — alcohol, soft drinks, bottled water — did not move. | Finance Act 2025, s. 71 |
| 26 November 2025 | The supply and construction of qualifying apartments placed at 9% until 31 December 2030. This superseded a provision covering 8 October to 25 November 2025, which was in force for seven weeks. | Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, s. 46(1)(cac) |
| 8 October 2025 | The end date of the 9% treatment of electricity and gas extended to 31 December 2030. | Finance Act 2025, s. 69 |
| 1 January 2025 | The Schedule 3 paragraphs routed to the 9% rate re-stated. The farmers’ flat-rate addition became 5.1%. | Finance Act 2024, s. 79(a) |
| 1 September 2023 | Catering, hot takeaway food, hairdressing, hotel lettings and admissions returned from 9% to 13.5% at the end of the pandemic-era support period. | Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, s. 46(1)(cb) as it then stood |
| 6 February 2023 | The first February public holiday. Ireland went from nine public holidays to ten. | S.I. No. 50/2022, regulations 4 and 5 |
| 1 May 2022 | Electricity and domestic gas moved to 9%, initially as a temporary measure. | Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022, s. 7(c) |
| 1 March 2021 | The standard rate returned to 23% at the end of the temporary reduction that ran from 1 September 2020. | Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, s. 46(1A) |
| 1 January 2021 | Motor tax for cars registered from this date moved to a new CO₂ band table based on the WLTP measure, alongside the existing NEDC table for 2008–2020 cars. | Finance Act 2020, s. 35(3)(c), inserting paragraph 6(o) |
Changes to this site
Recorded separately, because “the law changed” and “we can now tell you something we could not before” are different events and a reader deserves to know which one they are looking at.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | First publication. VAT rates and categories, registration thresholds, the public-holiday calendar and entitlement, and the three motor-tax rate tables — each read from a primary source and cited. |
| August 2026 | Two things recorded as unanswered rather than estimated: the VAT rounding convention (no Irish rule located) and the part-year motor tax proportions (published by the Department of Transport, not found in the Act). Both are stated on the pages that would otherwise have carried a number. |
What would make this page wrong
A Finance Act. They are enacted in the autumn and their VAT provisions typically take effect on 1 January, on 1 May, or on a date the section names — as the July 2026 change did. If you are reading this well after August 2026 and a rate looks wrong, a Finance Act is the first place to look, and this site’s footer stamp will tell you how current its data is.
The methodology page explains what that stamp tracks — it is the month the rate data last changed, and it is never bumped to look fresh.