How to Read Your RemitEase Report: A Complete Guide

6 days ago
13 min read

You have entered your figures, worked through the wizard, and now you are looking at your RemitEase results. The dashboard is dense with numbers, colour-coded tiles, and terms like "gross requirements" and "remaining offshore." If your first reaction is to feel slightly overwhelmed, you are not alone. The report packs a lot of information into a single screen because your tax position as a non-domiciled resident in Ireland involves several moving parts.

The good news is that every element on the page is there for a reason, and once you understand the structure, the whole picture clicks into place. This RemitEase report guide walks you through every section of the output -- from the net versus gross spending need, through the traffic light remittance sequence, to the detailed tax liability breakdown, multi-year projections, warnings, and the PDF export you share with your accountant. Whether you are reviewing results for the first time or revisiting your plan at the start of a new tax year, this post will help you get the most from every tile, chart, and figure on the page.

Understanding Your Financial Requirement: Net vs Gross

The first figure most people look for is the bottom bar of the results dashboard: your annual spending need. This is the net amount you actually need to live on in Ireland each year. It is the number you entered during the wizard, covering everything from rent and mortgage payments to groceries, school fees, and any one-off expenses you flagged for the year.

But here is the critical distinction. Your net spending need and the gross amount of money you need to bring into Ireland are not the same thing. Tax stands between the two.

How the Gross Figure Is Calculated

If you need EUR 100,000 after tax and some of that money is taxable when remitted, you will need to bring in more than EUR 100,000 to end up with your target amount. RemitEase calculates this for you automatically. The gross figure accounts for the tax that will be deducted on any Amber or Red money you remit, so you know the true cost of funding your lifestyle in Ireland.

For example, suppose your plan draws EUR 60,000 from Green capital (tax-free) and needs another EUR 40,000 from Red income (taxed at roughly 52%). To end up with EUR 40,000 in hand from that Red slice, you actually need to remit approximately EUR 83,000 of Red income, because around EUR 43,000 goes to tax. Your gross requirement for the year would therefore be closer to EUR 143,000, not EUR 100,000.

This is one of the most common planning oversights. People budget for what they need to spend but forget that transferring money to Ireland does not always mean receiving the full amount in hand. The gap between gross and net can be significant, particularly once Red money enters the picture.

Why the Distinction Matters for Cashflow

Understanding the net-to-gross gap is not just an academic exercise. It has real cashflow implications. If you are selling assets abroad to fund your Irish spending, you need to sell enough to cover the gross amount, not the net. If you are drawing from a foreign bank account, the balance will deplete faster than you might expect once tax is factored in. The RemitEase report makes this visible from day one, so you can plan your asset disposals and transfers accordingly.

Keep in mind that the gross figure changes year by year as your fund mix shifts. In years where Green money covers most of your needs, the gross figure stays close to the net. As you draw more from Amber and Red sources, the gross figure climbs. The multi-year projection (covered below) shows how this evolves over your planning horizon.

Remittance Breakdown: The Traffic Light Sequence

The top row of the results page shows three tiles, each representing one of the three fund types in RemitEase's traffic light system:

Green (Pre-Residency Capital) -- taxed at 0% when remitted. This is money you had before becoming Irish tax resident. It is your most valuable asset from a tax perspective because it costs nothing to bring into the country.
Amber (Foreign Capital Gains) -- taxed at 33% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when remitted. These are gains from selling assets outside Ireland while you are resident.
Red (Foreign Income) -- taxed at approximately 52% when remitted (40% income tax plus Universal Social Charge and Pay Related Social Insurance). This is foreign salary, dividends, rental income, and similar earnings.

The tiles show how much of each fund type RemitEase recommends you remit to cover your annual needs. The sequencing is deliberate. In most cases, the tool draws from Green money first, then Amber, then Red. There is a sound reason for this: every euro of Green money you use instead of Red money saves you roughly 52 cents in tax.

The SRCOP Exception

There is one important exception. When you have unused Standard Rate Cut-Off Point (SRCOP), a small amount of Red money may actually be cheaper to remit than Amber. If your Irish income does not use up your full SRCOP allowance, the unused portion lets you bring in Red money at around 24% rather than 52%. RemitEase detects this automatically and adjusts the sequence accordingly. You can read more about this in our guide to SRCOP and marginal rate taxation.

This optimisation is one of the more nuanced parts of the RemitEase report guide, and it is worth understanding even at a high level. The key takeaway is that the remittance order shown on your report is not always a simple Green-Amber-Red cascade. The algorithm evaluates your full tax position -- including Irish income, tax bands, and credits -- before deciding the cheapest sequence. When you see a small Red allocation alongside Green in a year where you still have plenty of Green capital, the SRCOP optimisation is likely the reason.

Reading the Tile Values

Each traffic light tile displays two numbers: the euro amount and the percentage of your total remittance that the fund type represents. The percentages help you see the mix at a glance. A report that shows 80% Green and 20% Amber tells a very different story from one that shows 30% Amber and 70% Red. The former means you are still in a comfortable position; the latter signals that most of your remittance is attracting significant tax.

The order matters enormously. Getting it wrong by even a small amount can cost thousands in unnecessary tax. This is precisely why the tool exists -- to calculate the optimal sequence so you do not have to do it by hand.

Tax Liability Summary: Where Your Tax Actually Goes

Click the dark tile labelled Estimated Tax Liability and you will open a detailed breakdown of your annual tax position. This is not a single number; it is a full accounting of every tax charge across all six categories of income and gains.

The breakdown separates:

Income tax on Irish earnings and remitted foreign income
USC (Universal Social Charge) on Irish and certain remitted income
PRSI (Pay Related Social Insurance) on Irish employment income
Capital Gains Tax on Irish gains, foreign gains when remitted, and offshore fund gains
Tax credits applied against your liability (personal credit, PAYE credit where applicable)

Category-by-Category Detail

What makes this useful is the category-by-category structure. You can see exactly how much tax arises from your Irish salary versus your remitted foreign income. You can see the CGT on your Irish gains separately from foreign gains. And you can see how your tax credits have been allocated -- first against Irish income tax, with any remainder flowing to offset tax on remitted income.

This level of detail matters when discussing your position with a tax adviser. Rather than arriving with a vague sense of what you owe, you can point to specific line items and ask targeted questions. It also helps you identify which categories are driving your tax bill, which is the first step toward reducing it.

How Tax Credits Flow Through the Report

Irish tax credits reduce your overall liability, but the order in which they are applied matters. The report shows credits being set against Irish income tax first. If any credit remains unused after covering Irish tax, it flows to offset the tax on remitted foreign income. However, credits cannot reduce your liability below zero for any category -- they do not generate refunds against remitted income tax.

Understanding this flow helps you see why, in some scenarios, increasing your Irish income slightly could actually reduce your overall tax bill. A higher Irish salary uses more of your SRCOP band and potentially absorbs more credits, leaving remitted income in a more favourable position. The RemitEase report guide becomes especially valuable here because you can compare scenarios side by side to see these effects.

Multi-Year Projections: Seeing the Full Picture

A single year's results tell you what to do now. The multi-year projection tells you whether your strategy will still work in Year 3, 4, or 5.

RemitEase tracks your balances across a five-year planning horizon. The timeline sidebar shows each year's status and lets you navigate between them. For completed years, you can see starting balances, remittances made, new income and gains added, and the ending balances that carry forward.

How Green Money Differs from Amber and Red

The key insight is how Green money behaves differently from the other two. Green capital only ever depletes. You had a fixed amount when you became resident, and every euro you remit reduces what remains. There is no way to top it up. Amber and Red balances, on the other hand, are replenished each year by new foreign gains and foreign income respectively.

This creates a predictable pattern. In the early years, you lean heavily on Green money because it is tax-free. As it depletes, you shift toward Amber and eventually Red. Your tax bill rises accordingly. The projection makes this trajectory visible so you can plan for it rather than being caught off guard.

Reading the Remaining Offshore Balances

The remaining offshore tile on the results page shows your end-of-year balances for all three fund types. Hover over it (or tap on mobile) to see the breakdown. Watch the Green figure in particular -- once it hits zero, your annual tax position changes materially.

Navigating between years in the timeline lets you see exactly when each transition happens. Year 1 might be almost entirely Green-funded. By Year 3, you might be drawing 50% from Amber. By Year 5, Red money may dominate. Seeing this progression in advance is one of the most powerful features of the report and a core reason to use multi-year planning rather than a single-year spreadsheet approach.

Comparing Year-on-Year Changes

As you click through each year, pay attention to how your estimated tax liability changes. A sudden jump in tax between two consecutive years usually means Green money has run out, or a large one-off expense has pushed you deeper into Amber or Red territory. These inflection points are the moments where proactive planning makes the biggest difference. If you know that Year 3 is when your tax bill doubles, you can take steps now -- perhaps accelerating a capital gain to realise it while Green money is still available to offset other needs, or adjusting your spending expectations.

Warnings and Alerts: When to Pay Attention

RemitEase does not just calculate; it flags problems.

Shortfall Warnings

The most common warning is a shortfall. This appears when your combined resources -- Irish income, Green capital, Amber gains, and Red income -- are not enough to cover your annual spending need. The shortfall amount tells you the gap, and it is displayed prominently on the annual requirements bar.

A shortfall in a single year might be manageable. Perhaps you had an unusually large one-off expense, or your foreign income dropped temporarily. But a shortfall that persists across multiple years is a signal that your current strategy is unsustainable.

Sustainability Flags

The multi-year projection also flags sustainability at the portfolio level. If your total remaining balances drop below a critical threshold before Year 5, the system warns that funds may be exhausted before your planning horizon ends. This is your cue to revisit assumptions, look for ways to reduce spending needs, or discuss alternatives with your accountant.

Other Warnings

Other warnings may appear if the calculation detects inconsistencies -- for instance, attempting to remit more from a fund than the balance available. These are guardrails, not errors in your data. They indicate that the strategy needs adjustment.

When you see a warning, do not ignore it. Revisit the year in question, check the inputs, and consider whether the underlying assumptions are still valid. Warnings are most useful when acted upon early, before the tax year in question has started and while you still have options.

The PDF Export: What Your Accountant Sees

The print view generates a clean, A4-portrait document designed to be shared with your tax adviser. It includes:

Your tax summary header showing the calendar year and generation date
The three remittance tiles with recommended amounts by fund type
Remaining offshore balances broken down by Green, Amber, and Red
Your estimated tax liability as a single figure, with the detailed breakdown accessible in the full report
Your annual spending need with funding percentage and any shortfall noted
A disclaimer reminding both you and your adviser that the report is an estimate based on current tax rules and the information provided

Why the PDF Is Deliberately Concise

The PDF is deliberately concise. It gives your accountant the structured starting point they need without burying them in unnecessary detail. They can see at a glance what you are planning to remit, what the tax cost is, and whether there are any red flags.

Your accountant handles the nuances that RemitEase cannot model -- trust structures, specific double taxation treaty provisions, Revenue queries, and the many individual circumstances that affect a real-world tax return. The PDF is the bridge between your own planning and their professional work.

You can read more about how to make this collaboration effective in our guide to working with your accountant on remittance basis planning.

Tips for Sharing the PDF

Send the PDF to your adviser ahead of your meeting, not during it. When your accountant has time to review the figures in advance, the meeting itself becomes a conversation about strategy rather than a data-gathering exercise. This typically means shorter, more focused meetings and lower professional fees.

If you are sharing reports for multiple years, send them together so your accountant can see the same multi-year trajectory that you see in the app. Context matters -- a Year 3 report without Years 1 and 2 leaves your adviser guessing at how you arrived there.

Making the Report Work for You: Practical Tips

The RemitEase report is not a tax return. It is a planning tool. Its value lies in helping you understand the trade-offs before you make decisions -- before you sell an asset, before you transfer funds, before you sit down with your adviser.

Here is how to get the most from it:

Run it early in the tax year. The sooner you know your optimal remittance sequence, the more flexibility you have. Running the report in January gives you eleven months to act on the results.
Experiment with scenarios. Change your spending need, adjust your foreign income, add a one-off expense. See how each change affects the output. This RemitEase report guide encourages you to treat the tool as a sandbox, not a one-shot calculation.
Watch the Green balance. It is the single most important number in your multi-year strategy. Preserving it as long as possible keeps your tax bill down. If you notice Green running out sooner than expected, explore whether you can reduce remittances or top up from other non-taxable sources.
Share the PDF before your meeting. Sending it in advance lets your accountant prepare, which means a more productive (and less expensive) conversation.
Revisit annually. Your circumstances change. New income, new gains, new expenses. The five-year plan only works if you update it.
Compare year-on-year. Look at how your remittance mix and tax liability change across the planning horizon. The shifts tell you when to act and what levers to pull.
Use the report as a communication tool. If your spouse or partner needs to understand the household tax strategy, walking them through the report is far easier than explaining the theory from scratch. The visual tiles and traffic light colours make the concepts accessible to non-specialists.

Frequently Asked Questions About the RemitEase Report

Below are questions we hear regularly from users working through their results for the first time. If your question is not covered here, our support team is happy to help.

Why does my gross requirement seem so much higher than my spending need?

Because tax is deducted from Amber and Red remittances before you receive the funds. The gross figure includes the tax that will be paid, so it always equals or exceeds your net spending need. The more your plan relies on Red money (taxed at roughly 52%), the larger the gap.

Can I change the remittance order shown on the report?

The order is calculated to minimise your tax liability. RemitEase does not allow you to override it manually, because doing so would result in a higher tax bill. If you want to explore a different mix, adjust the underlying inputs (for example, reducing your spending need or changing your foreign income figures) and the algorithm will recalculate the optimal sequence.

What if I have no Green money left?

Once Green capital is exhausted, your remittances will come from Amber and Red sources only. Your tax liability will increase, often significantly. The multi-year projection flags this transition clearly. If you are approaching this point, it is a good time to review your overall domicile and residency strategy with a tax adviser.

How accurate is the estimated tax liability?

The estimate is based on current Irish tax rates, bands, and credits as modelled in RemitEase. It uses the information you entered during the wizard. It does not account for individual reliefs, treaty provisions, or circumstances that only a qualified adviser can evaluate. Think of it as a well-informed starting point rather than a final tax bill.

Can I export reports for all five years at once?

Currently, the PDF export covers one year at a time. To share the full multi-year view, export each year individually. We recommend labelling each PDF with the year for easy reference.

Does the report update automatically if tax rates change?

RemitEase updates its tax rate tables when Irish budgetary changes are confirmed. However, existing saved plans use the rates that were current when the plan was last saved. To pick up new rates, re-run your plan after an update.

A Quick-Reference Checklist for Your RemitEase Report

Use this checklist each time you review your results to make sure you have not missed anything important:

[ ] Check your net spending need matches your actual budget
[ ] Note the gross requirement and the gap between net and gross
[ ] Review the traffic light tiles for the recommended remittance mix
[ ] Look for any SRCOP optimisation (small Red allocation alongside Green)
[ ] Open the tax liability breakdown and identify the largest tax categories
[ ] Navigate through each year in the multi-year projection
[ ] Watch for the year when Green money runs out
[ ] Check for shortfall or sustainability warnings
[ ] Export the PDF and send it to your accountant ahead of your next meeting
[ ] Revisit and re-run whenever your circumstances change

This RemitEase report guide has walked you through every major section of the output. The more familiar you become with the structure, the faster you will be able to spot opportunities, identify risks, and have informed conversations with your tax adviser. Your report is not just a set of numbers -- it is a roadmap for making smarter remittance decisions year after year.

Plan Your Remittance Strategy with RemitEase

RemitEase helps non-domiciled residents in Ireland build a personalised, multi-year remittance plan. The step-by-step wizard captures your income, gains, and pre-residency capital, then calculates the optimal remittance order with SRCOP optimisation across a 5-year horizon.

Click here to sign-up for RemitEase and see exactly how much you could save.

RemitEase is a planning tool and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Tax rules are subject to change. Always consult a qualified tax adviser before making decisions based on your individual circumstances.