Accounting software in Ireland: VAT, ROS and costs

What accounting software must do for an Irish business

Accounting software for an Irish small business must record every sale and purchase at the right VAT rate (23%, 13.5%, 9%, 4.8% or 0%), give you the figures for the VAT return you file through ROS every two months, and produce the annual Return of Trading Details. From 1 November 2028, every business in Ireland must also be able to receive structured e-invoices.

This guide is for sole traders, company directors and bookkeepers choosing or replacing software. It sets out the Irish rules the software has to support as of October 2026, a vendor-neutral checklist, what software costs, a worked VAT example in euros, and where Skyline Nexus ERP fits and where it does not.

Irish VAT rules your software has to handle

Revenue's table of current VAT rates, effective from 1 January 2026, shows a standard rate of 23%, a reduced rate of 13.5%, a second reduced rate of 9% and a livestock rate of 4.8%, plus a flat-rate addition of 4.5% for farmers. Zero-rated and exempt supplies sit alongside them. Software must let you hold several rates at once and add a new rate when a Budget changes one, while old invoices keep the rate they were issued with.

Registration is obligatory once turnover exceeds the thresholds: EUR 42,500 for businesses supplying services only, and EUR 85,000 for businesses supplying goods, according to Revenue. Where you issue an invoice, VAT becomes due on the date you issue it, or the date by which you should have issued it, and the rate is the one in force at that time.

The taxable period is normally two months, starting in January, March, May, July, September and November. The return and payment are due by the 19th of the following month, extended to the 23rd for returns filed through ROS. Revenue may authorise four-monthly returns for an annual liability between EUR 3,001 and EUR 14,400, or six-monthly returns between EUR 1 and EUR 3,000. Once a year you also complete the Return of Trading Details, which shows total sales and purchases broken down by VAT rate.

E-invoicing in Ireland: the timeline as Revenue states it

As of October 2026 there is no obligation for Irish businesses to issue structured e-invoices to each other. Revenue has published a phased plan, which it calls VAT Modernisation, ahead of the EU's VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) rules.

Under Revenue's definition, an eInvoice is issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that complies with the European standard EN 16931; a PDF or a scanned paper invoice is not an eInvoice. Revenue advises businesses in scope to review their invoicing, accounting or ERP systems and to confirm technical readiness with their software provider.

• Phase 1, November 2028: VAT-registered large corporates (businesses whose tax affairs are managed by Revenue's Large Corporates Division) must issue eInvoices for domestic B2B transactions and report a subset of the data to Revenue.
• From 1 November 2028: all businesses in Ireland must be able to receive structured eInvoices.
• Phase 2, November 2029: the obligation extends to VAT-registered businesses that trade cross-border with EU businesses.
• Phase 3, July 2030: ViDA e-invoicing and digital reporting for all cross-border EU B2B transactions.

Requirements checklist

Score each product against the same list. The first five items are needed by almost every VAT-registered business; the rest depend on what you sell and how you work.

• Several VAT rates at once, including zero-rated and exempt supplies, with reverse charge for services bought from abroad.
• VAT reports for any two-month period that give you the figures for the VAT3 return, and annual totals by rate for the Return of Trading Details.
• Credit notes linked to the original invoice, so VAT is reversed in the right period.
• Bank reconciliation, by bank feed or by importing statement files.
• Profit and loss, balance sheet and trial balance your accountant can use for year-end.
• Invoices in sterling or other currencies if you sell into Northern Ireland, Britain or beyond.
• Stock per location and a point of sale if you sell goods.
• An e-invoicing route to EN 16931 formats before your phase applies, starting with receiving in 2028.

How to choose: questions to ask every vendor

Ask whether the software files the VAT return on ROS itself or prepares the figures for you to enter on ROS. Both are workable for a small business, but they take different amounts of time each period, and you should know which you are buying.

Ask about payroll separately: is it built in, a paid add-on, or left to a separate payroll product or bureau that reports to Revenue for you? Ask how the bank connects: a live bank feed, or a statement file you download and import. Ask which e-invoice formats the product can create and read today, and what its plan is for receiving eInvoices by November 2028.

Finally, ask how your accountant gets access, what a second user costs, and whether you can export all data, including the audit trail, if you leave.

What accounting software costs in Ireland

Small-business accounting software in Ireland is usually sold as a monthly subscription per company, with tiers that unlock more users, payroll, stock or multi-currency. Compare the price for 12 months at the rate you will pay after any introductory discount, and remember that a VAT-registered business can normally reclaim the VAT on its software subscription.

Skyline Nexus ERP Solo costs EUR 17 a month plus VAT in Ireland (EUR 20.91 with VAT at 23%) for one user and one business location. It is a full ERP: general ledger, sales and purchases, VAT reports, inventory, point of sale, bank reconciliation and CRM in one plan. Every plan starts with a free first month. Under the launch offer, valid until 31 January 2027, Solo costs EUR 8.50 a month for the first 3 months, then EUR 17 a month; on annual billing, EUR 170 covers 15 months instead of 12. Prices were checked on 3 October 2026; confirm them on the pricing page.

• Extra users for a bookkeeper or a second director.
• Payroll priced per employee or as a separate product.
• Paid add-ons for stock, point of sale or foreign currency.
• Costs to prepare for eInvoicing, such as a receiving service from 2028.

Worked example: a bi-monthly VAT return

A Galway business sells hardware and runs a small repair service. In the January and February period it invoices EUR 40,000 of goods at 23%, so output VAT is EUR 9,200, and EUR 6,000 of repair services at 13.5%, so output VAT is EUR 810. Total VAT on sales is EUR 10,010.

Its purchases of stock and costs in the same period are EUR 18,000 plus VAT at 23%, so input VAT is EUR 4,140. The net VAT payable is EUR 10,010 minus EUR 4,140, which is EUR 5,870. Because it files through ROS, the return and payment are due by 23 March instead of 19 March.

The same figures feed the annual Return of Trading Details by rate. Software cost on Skyline Nexus ERP Solo for the first 12 paid months after the free month: 12 x EUR 17 = EUR 204 ex VAT (EUR 250.92 with VAT) at the regular price, or 3 x EUR 8.50 + 9 x EUR 17 = EUR 178.50 ex VAT with the launch offer.

Sole trader or company: what changes

A sole trader below the VAT thresholds who sells services and sends a few invoices a month needs little more than invoicing and an expense record for the income tax return; a simple invoicing tool or a spreadsheet kept with care can be enough. Once you register for VAT, hold stock, take card payments in a shop, or employ staff, the software has to carry the VAT rates, the stock and the reconciliations described above.

A limited company also needs a balance sheet that an accountant can sign off at year-end. That makes a double-entry ledger, proper period control and an audit trail more important than the price difference between two subscriptions.

Skyline Nexus ERP for an Irish business

Skyline Nexus ERP lets you set up the Irish VAT rates as tax rates and tax groups and apply them per line. Sales, purchases and payments post to the general ledger automatically once the auto-post settings are on, and the VAT Analysis report and a prefilled VAT return form give you sales and purchase bases and VAT for any date range, which you then enter on ROS. Credit notes reverse revenue and VAT, bank statements are imported as CSV or Excel files for reconciliation, stock is held per location with FIFO costing, and the trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow come from the ledger. Invoices can be issued in sterling with a manual exchange rate on a euro ledger.

For e-invoicing, Skyline Nexus ERP generates Peppol BIS UBL files, and XRechnung and ZUGFeRD files for German customers, from a sale. Sending through the Peppol network is being rolled out; until then you send the file yourself.

What it does not do today: it does not file your VAT3 or Return of Trading Details on ROS, it has no Irish payroll (HR records exist; local payroll is being rolled out country by country), and it has no direct bank feeds. A Tax Rate holds one percentage without a start date, so when a rate changes you add a new rate. Start the free month on Solo and run one full VAT period through it before you decide.