EIIS Investments Opportunities
What are EIIS Investments?
EIIS (Employment Investment Incentive Scheme) is a mechanism for start-ups and young businesses in Ireland to receive investment that is tax efficient for the investor. Essentially the investor can receive up to 50% tax relief* on the investment so €1000 invested costs just €500, while investors retain the full benefit, if their investment is successful.
One attractive aspect is that unlike pension contributions, EIIS tax relief is
also available on non-earned income such as dividends and Case V rental income earned by landlords.
There are some key rules and requirements:
- As of Budget 2025 the maximum investment in a year of €1,000,000 for all periods.
- Not subject to the High Earners Restrictions.
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Additional considerations:
- You are investing in young companies so there is a significant risk losing all the investment.
Spreading the risk across multiple EIIS investments should be considered. - You may not get an exit at four years. Under the rules, investments must be risk equity.
- Capital Gains Tax (CGT) will need to be paid on any gains.
- Investments may be a preference share in favour of the company, with a fixed rate of return and exit timeline akin to a loan or they may be straight equity giving a full participation in the upside and potentially higher returns but less predictable exit times.
You can invest in EIIS scheme a number of ways:
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Directly invest with the company. This typically requires a minimum investment of €5,000-€10,000.
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Invest in an EIIS fund. This typically requires a minimum investment of €10,000-€20,000 and a ~3% initial fee. The advantage is you area automatically getting diversification into 5-10 companies and a level of professional expertise which will hopefully improve the gains. Some
funds do cap the upside gains however but this may be due to a fixed rate of return. In addition, you will need to wait for them to invest your money for you adding perhaps 6-9 months to the process.
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Invest via a Crowdfunding Platform. Some of the Crowdfunding Platforms offer EIIS
investment opportunities. The minimum investment is around €250 allowing you to diversify. A certain amount of due diligence has been done before these companies get on to these platforms.
This site aims to be a single point of reference for current EIIS investment opportunities in the Irish market. It is a free reference site for general informational purposes only. Please check your own tax circumstances with your tax advisor and review any company information thoroughly before making any investments.
Examples:
An individual on the higher tax rate would normally pay 50% marginal rate of income tax. There for €1000 gross earned would result in €500 net.
If the individual invested €1000 in EIIS investment(s):
Example 1:
€1000 invested in a successful company. 50% tax relief* can be claimed. At the end of 4 years an exit returns a total of €1300 giving a Capital Gain of €300. Assuming Capital Gains Tax of 33% brings this down to €200. This leaves a net value of €1200, plus your tax relief of €500. Total return: €1700, leaving a net benefit of 70%.
Example 2:
€1000 invested in a unsuccessful company. 50% tax relief* can be claimed. The company fails
returns a total of €0. This leaves an actual net loss of 50%.
As to how many of your investments would be successful?
Obviously this hard predict but early stage investors might expect 50% fail, 40% could be marginally successful and 10% could be very successful.
See the Official Revenue Information on EIIS
Changes to the Budget affecting EIIS were announced in 2023, which impacted the tax rules for EIIS tax relief for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 tax years.
The changes made replaced the single 40% tax relief rate with a range on rates between 20% and 50%. The basic rules are as follows:
- 50% tax relief for businesses that have "not operated in any market" so likely very early stage businesses which carry the highest risk.
- 35% tax relief for businesses that are already trading, but less than 7 years old and fundraising via EIIS for the first time.
- 20% tax relief for businesses EIIS fundraising its second or subsequent times.
- 20% tax relief for business expanding into new markets or regions.
- 30% tax relief for investments via a "Qualifying Investment Fund".
Likely many of the investments previously qualifying for 40% tax relief will move into the 35% or 20% brackets.
*Update following the new budget for 2026, dated 7th October 2025:
The EIIS scheme was not updated in the 2026 budget. Unless otherwise revised, the EIIS scheme will end in Ireland on the 31st of December 2026.