What is the SURE scheme?

You have spent years in a job, paying income tax through PAYE every month, and now you want to leave employment and build something of your own. The frustrating part? Starting your own business eats cash fast. What if you could reclaim a chunk of the tax you have already paid and use it as working capital?

That is exactly what the SURE scheme does. It is one of the most generous reliefs available to Irish founders, and one of the least claimed. This guide explains how it works, who can qualify, and how to claim it.

What is the SURE scheme and how does it work?

SURE stands for Start-Up Relief for Entrepreneurs, formerly Start Up Refunds for Entrepreneurs and, before that, the Seed Capital Scheme. According to Revenue, SURE is a tax relief that provides a refund of income tax that you paid in previous years. It is aimed at the entrepreneur leaving PAYE employment to start a new company, though unemployed and recently redundant people can also claim SURE.

The mechanism is straightforward. You invest cash in a new limited company by buying newly issued shares. Revenue treats that investment as a deduction from your total income in earlier tax years, which generates an income tax refund of the PAYE income tax you paid back then. Because the SURE relief works through your past tax history, the refund can be worth up to 40% of your qualifying investment, matching the top rate set out in Revenue's income tax rate band guidance. Older articles quote 41%; that figure relates to the pre-2015 top rate and is out of date.

Not a grant, not a loan. It is your own tax paid coming back to fund your start-up.

Who can qualify for SURE in Ireland?

The personal conditions are where most failed claims fall down. To qualify, Revenue says you must:

• Establish a new company that carries on a new qualifying trading activity.
• Have had mainly PAYE income in the previous four years.
• Take up full-time employment in the new company, either as a director or an employee.
• Invest cash in the new company by purchasing new shares.
• Keep those shares for at least four years.

Notice the pattern: SURE rewards genuine commitment. You cannot dabble. You leave employment, you work full time in the business, and your money stays in as share capital for four years. Planning to keep a part-time role elsewhere? Then this is not the relief for you.

Working full time in your own company also raises the practical question of how to pay yourself from a limited company, since you will take a salary from the company through payroll once trading starts.

What does "mainly PAYE" mean for SURE claims?

This is the condition that catches people with mixed income. Per the National Enterprise Hub, your income in the four years before your investment must have been mainly PAYE income, and for the three years preceding the year before the investment, earnings from other sources must not have exceeded €50,000 or your employment income, whichever is lower.

Rental income, dividends, or a self-employed sideline can all push you over that line. Get the figures reviewed before you bank on a refund.

What conditions must your new company meet?

Your company has its own checklist. It must be a new company formed to carry on a qualifying trade, not a rebadged version of an existing business. It must issue new shares in return for your cash, and the money must be used for the trade itself. The National Enterprise Hub adds that the company must be an SME, the investment must be based on a business plan, and the funds must contribute to creating or maintaining employment, or to research, development and innovation where the company has not yet started trading.

In practical terms, you need to:

• Incorporate a new limited company with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).
• Subscribe for newly issued ordinary shares with a documented cash payment.
• Prepare a business plan showing how the funds will be used.
• Begin a qualifying trade rather than an excluded activity.

The full company conditions sit within Revenue's wider rules on relief for investment in corporate trades. Not formed the company yet? Our guide on how to set up a company in Ireland covers incorporation, and we have a separate explainer on issuing new shares in your company, the exact mechanism a SURE claim depends on.

What trading activities qualify for SURE, and which don't?

The relief is only available to companies carrying on relevant trading activities. The point is to channel money into active, job-creating SMEs, not passive investment vehicles. Most genuine trading businesses qualify: manufacturing, software, food production, e-commerce, trades and services that sell to customers.

Commonly excluded activities under the corporate trades rules include:

• Dealing in or developing land.
• Financial and financing activities, including dealing in shares or commodities.
• Professional services companies.
• Film production, coal, steel and shipbuilding.

The line between a qualifying trade and an excluded one is not always obvious, especially for consultancy services or businesses with several revenue streams. Where the main activity sits near the boundary, confirm the position against Revenue's guidance before you invest a euro.

How much of a tax refund can you get under SURE?

The headline: a refund worth up to 40% of your qualifying investment. It is calculated from two things, the cash you subscribe for eligible shares and the income tax paid in the years you claim against. The refund can never exceed the tax paid in those years, so a long, well-paid PAYE history gives more scope than a short one.

You can set the investment against your income in the year you invest and any of the previous 6 years, and you choose which years to use. The key figures, per the National Enterprise Hub on gov.ie:

SURE rule	Figure
Minimum investment	€250
Maximum investment per year of assessment	€140,000
Years you can claim against	Year of investment plus the previous six years
Maximum total investment over seven years	€980,000
Minimum share holding period	Four years

A quick example. Say you invest €50,000 of savings in your new business and you paid tax at the 40% rate in the years claimed against. Your potential refund of income tax is up to €20,000. Nothing to repay, provided the conditions are met and stay met.

What factors can reduce the SURE refund amount?

Several things can shrink or eliminate the refund:

• Insufficient income tax paid in the lookback years, since the refund cannot exceed your tax paid in previous years.
• Income taxed at the 20% standard rate rather than 40%, which halves the relief on that slice.
• Failing the full-time employment or shareholding conditions, which can trigger a clawback.
• A company or trade that turns out not to qualify.
• Documentation gaps that leave Revenue unable to verify the claim.

The refund relates to income tax only, not PRSI or USC, so the cash back will be smaller than your total deductions for those years.

How do you apply for SURE with Revenue?

The process moved to self-certification for shares issued from 1 January 2019. According to Revenue's guidance on claiming relief for shares, the company gives you a Statement of Qualification confirming it meets the company conditions, and you then claim the relief through your own tax return. Step by step:

1. Confirm your personal eligibility: PAYE tax history, leaving employment, and the full-time role.
2. Incorporate the new limited company with a qualifying trade.
3. Invest cash and receive newly issued shares, with bank and share documentation to prove it.
4. Start full-time employment in the company.
5. Obtain the Statement of Qualification from the company.
6. Submit your SURE claim on your Income Tax Return (Form 11 or Form 12), or through MyEnquiries in Revenue's online services.
7. Keep your records and respond promptly to any Revenue queries.

Processing times vary, so do not build the refund into week-one cashflow. Our tax return accountant services handle the submission and any follow-up correspondence.

What documents and records do you need for a SURE claim?

A solid SURE claim file, kept from day one, includes:

1. Proof of PAYE income tax paid for the relevant years.
2. Company incorporation details from the CRO.
3. Share subscription and allotment records, plus bank statements showing the cash going in.
4. Evidence of your full-time employment in the company.
5. The business plan describing the trade and how the funds will be used.

What are the most common mistakes when claiming SURE?

We see the same handful of errors again and again. Avoid these and you are most of the way there:

1. Misreading the "mainly PAYE" requirement when there is rental or self-employed income in the picture.
2. Investing the wrong way: lending money to the company, or buying existing shares, instead of subscribing cash for new ones.
3. Never formally taking up the full-time role, or having no payroll evidence of it.
4. Choosing a trade that falls into an excluded category.
5. Inconsistencies between the tax return, company accounts and bank records.

Good accountancy support at the structuring stage costs far less than unwinding a rejected claim later.

FAQs about the SURE scheme in Ireland

Is SURE a grant or a loan?

Neither. It is a refund of tax already paid, so there is nothing to repay and no interest. Unlike grant funding from your Local Enterprise Office or Enterprise Ireland, the amount depends on your own tax history and qualifying investment, not a funding committee's decision.

Do I have to set up a limited company to claim SURE?

Yes. The scheme is built around subscribing cash for new shares, and sole traders have no shares to issue. If you want to start a business as a sole trader, SURE is off the table; Citizens Information covers the other supports for starting your own business.

Can I claim SURE if I was self-employed before starting the company?

Usually not in full. The relief targets people leaving employment with a mainly PAYE record over the previous four years. Significant self-employed income in that window can breach the limits, so check your figures before assuming you are entitled to a refund.

Can I claim SURE and other investment reliefs on the same investment?

No. SURE sits alongside the Employment Investment Incentive scheme in the same legislation, and one share subscription cannot get full relief twice. If outside investors are backing your company under the EIIS scheme while you claim SURE on your own shares, the structuring needs care.

When should I plan my SURE claim, before or after I invest?

Before, every time. The maximum relief depends on decisions made at the start: which tax year the investment lands in, how the shares are issued, and when you take up the role. Plan the sequence first and the SURE claim follows cleanly.

How can we help you claim SURE?

First Accounts works with Irish founders and SMEs to make a SURE claim stack up from the start. We assess your eligibility across the personal, company and trade tests, structure the share issue correctly, prepare the documentation, and submit the SURE tax refund claim to Revenue. If Revenue comes back with questions, we handle those too.

Thinking of starting a new company and want to know what your potential SURE refund looks like? Book a consultation and get in touch today.

Disclaimer: This guide is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Speak to a qualified accountant about your specific circumstances before acting on anything covered here.