You are probably leaving money on the table
If you are a plumber, electrician, builder, carpenter, or painter working in Dundalk or anywhere in County Louth, there is a very good chance you are paying more tax than you need to. Not because you are doing anything wrong, but because you are not claiming everything you are entitled to.
Revenue allows you to deduct legitimate business expenses from your income before calculating your tax bill. The lower your taxable profit, the less tax you pay. It is that simple. But too many tradespeople either do not know what they can claim, or they know but do not keep the receipts. This guide is part of our wider business startup library for trades and SME owners.
Let me run through the main categories of expenses you should be claiming.
Tools and equipment
Every tool you buy for work is a tax-deductible expense. This includes hand tools, power tools, testing equipment, ladders, safety equipment, and consumables like drill bits, blades, and fixings.
If an individual item costs less than EUR 1,000 (excluding VAT), you can usually claim the full cost in the year you buy it. For more expensive items — a high-end laser level, a pipe-freezing kit, or a full set of scaffolding — you may need to claim the cost over several years through capital allowances. The standard rate is 12.5% per year over eight years.
Keep every receipt. If you buy tools from a builders’ merchant or hardware shop and pay cash, ask for a proper VAT receipt. Revenue will not accept bank statements alone as proof of a business expense.
Your van or vehicle
Your van is probably your single biggest business expense after materials, and there are several elements you can claim.
If you use the van exclusively for work, you can claim all running costs: fuel, insurance, motor tax, servicing, repairs, tyres, and NCT fees. You can also claim capital allowances on the purchase price of the van itself (12.5% per year over eight years for commercial vehicles).
If you use the van for both business and personal purposes, you need to keep a mileage log and claim only the business proportion. Revenue expects you to be able to demonstrate that your business mileage claim is accurate. A simple notebook in the van, or a mileage tracking app, is sufficient.
For employees who use their own vehicle for work, the civil service mileage rates apply — currently 74.37 cent per kilometre for the first 1,500 km in a year (engine capacity 1,201cc to 1,500cc). But if you are self-employed and own the vehicle, you claim actual costs, not mileage rates.
Work clothing and protective equipment
You can claim the cost of clothing that is exclusively for work and not suitable for everyday wear. This includes high-visibility vests, steel-toe boots, hard hats, knee pads, waterproof trousers, overalls, and branded work uniforms.
You cannot claim for ordinary clothes, even if you only wear them for work. A pair of jeans you wear on site is not deductible. A pair of steel-toe boots is.
Laundry costs for work clothing can also be claimed, though Revenue expects a reasonable estimate rather than receipts for every wash.
Phone and broadband
If you use your mobile phone for business, you can claim the business proportion of your phone bill. If the phone is used 70% for work and 30% for personal use, you can claim 70% of the monthly bill as a business expense.
The same applies to broadband if you do any administration or quoting from home. Keep a log of your usage split, or make a reasonable estimate.
Materials and subcontractor costs
All materials you purchase for jobs — copper pipe, cable, plasterboard, paint, fixings — are fully deductible as cost of goods sold. This is straightforward, but make sure you are keeping proper purchase invoices, not just delivery dockets.
If you hire subcontractors, those payments are deductible too. But if you are a principal contractor in the construction industry, you must operate the Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT) system — our complete guide to RCT for Dundalk builders and subcontractors explains how it works in detail. This means you deduct tax from payments to subcontractors at 0%, 20%, or 35% depending on their RCT rate, and remit that tax to Revenue. Getting RCT wrong can result in significant penalties, so it is worth having your accountant set this up properly.
Insurance
All business-related insurance premiums are deductible. This includes public liability insurance, employers’ liability insurance (if you have employees), professional indemnity insurance, van insurance (the business proportion), and tool insurance.
Accountancy and professional fees
Your accountancy fees are a deductible expense. So are fees for legal advice on business matters, membership of trade bodies, and the cost of any licences or registrations required for your trade (such as RECI registration for electricians or Safe Electric compliance).
Training and upskilling
The cost of training courses that are directly related to your existing trade is deductible. If you are an electrician taking a course on solar panel installation, that is a valid business expense. If you are a plumber getting certified in heat pump systems, same thing.
However, Revenue draws a line between training that enhances your existing skills and training for an entirely new career. A builder who takes a plumbing course to expand their existing construction business can likely claim it. A builder who trains as a software developer cannot.
Pension contributions
If you are self-employed, you can make personal pension contributions that are tax-deductible up to age-related limits. For someone aged 30 to 39, the limit is 20% of net relevant earnings, rising to 40% for those aged 60 and over.
Pension contributions are one of the most powerful tax-planning tools available to self-employed tradespeople, and they are consistently underused. If you are earning EUR 80,000 and you contribute EUR 16,000 to a pension, you save EUR 6,400 in income tax alone (at the 40% rate), plus USC savings on top.
What you cannot claim
To be clear, there are things Revenue will not allow. Personal expenses, fines and penalties, entertainment (client dinners are not deductible in Ireland), the personal portion of mixed-use expenses, and clothing that is suitable for everyday wear.
The practical step you should take today
If you are a tradesperson in Dundalk or County Louth and you are not sure whether you are claiming everything you should, bring your last tax return to us and we will review it. There is no charge for an initial consultation, and in many cases we find claims that have been missed in previous years — which can be reclaimed by amending your returns going back four years.
It is also worth making sure you have your VAT treatment right, particularly around the two-thirds rule that affects how you invoice for jobs with a significant materials component. If you have worked in Britain under the Construction Industry Scheme, make sure you understand how CIS works for Irish tradespeople and whether you are owed a refund from HMRC. SEAI grants for energy equipment can also significantly reduce the after-tax cost of business investment — see our guide to SEAI grants in 2026. You work hard for your money. Make sure Revenue is not taking more than its fair share.
Paddy Malone FCA AITI
Paddy is the principal of Malone & Co. Chartered Accountants in Dundalk. A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and a Chartered Tax Consultant with the Irish Tax Institute, he has been advising businesses across County Louth and the North-East for over 35 years.