If you've been delaying listing your garage because you don't want to deal with Revenue, this is the post that fixes it. The Irish tax treatment of storage income is unusually clean. It's not housesharing (rent-a-room scheme), it's not commercial property (Case V), and it's not trading (Case I). It's Case IV miscellaneous income — the simplest of the four categories.
This is a practical guide. It doesn't replace your accountant for borderline cases, but it does cover what 95% of Packhood hosts actually need to know to declare their first year of storage income correctly and not lose sleep about it.
The category: Case IV
Storage income is treated as Case IV miscellaneous income under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, s. 18. Case IV is the catch-all for income that isn't trading, professional, salary, or rental of accommodation. Storage rental sits there because it's neither a trade (you're not "in the business") nor accommodation rental (no person occupies it).
Practically, that means: it's added to your total income for the year, taxed at your marginal rate, plus USC, plus PRSI Class S (or Class K, depending on your situation). No special schemes, no special exemptions, no special deductions beyond the actual expenses you incurred earning the income.
Form 11 vs Form 12 — which one are you filing?
Two routes:
Form 12 — for PAYE workers with non-PAYE income under €5,000 a year. If your storage income is your only non-PAYE income (no freelance, no dividends, no foreign income, no trading), you can use Form 12, which is the simpler online return on the myAccount portal.
Form 11 — for the self-employed, anyone with non-PAYE income above €5,000, or anyone with other Case I/Case II income. If you have multiple Packhood listings earning >€5,000 combined, or you're already filing Form 11 for other reasons, you'll add the storage income to Form 11 under Case IV.
For most first-time hosts with one listing earning €1,000–€2,000 a year, Form 12 is the answer. The deadline is 31 October each year for the previous tax year (paper) or mid-November (online).
What you owe — a worked example
Scenario: Liam in Phibsboro earns €145/mo from his garage. He's a PAYE worker on the higher rate band. His annual storage gross is €145 × 12 = €1,740. After the Packhood platform fee, his net before tax is roughly €1,650.
Income tax: 40% × €1,650 = €660.
USC: Storage income is added to his total. At his earnings level he's already in the 4.5% USC band, so €1,650 × 4.5% = €74.
PRSI: Class K (no benefit accrual on small unearned income) at 4%. €1,650 × 4% = €66.
Total tax + levies: ~€800. Net cash: ~€850.
It varies — if you're in the standard rate band (20%), the tax is half. If your other income is over the USC top band, USC is higher. If you have other Case IV deductions (e.g. a bookkeeping cost) you can offset them. For most hosts, plan on keeping ~50–60% of the gross after tax.
Deductible expenses — what you can subtract
Case IV income is taxed on profit, not gross. You can deduct expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for earning the income. For storage, that includes:
Packhood platform fee. Whatever percentage Packhood deducts from your booking — that's a cost, not income.
Insurance specifically for the storage activity. If you bought a small storage-specific top-up to your home insurance, the premium is deductible.
Cost of basic improvements made to be lettable. Replacing a broken door lock, buying a dehumidifier, painting the walls before listing — these are deductible if they were incurred to earn the income.
Cleaning + minor repairs between bookings. Keep receipts.
Capital expenditure (e.g. a brand new garage door) is not directly deductible but can be claimed via wear and tear allowances over 8 years. Most hosts don't bother with this — the amounts are small.
What Packhood does to make this easy
Every January Packhood sends each host a YTD earnings statement with gross + platform fee + net. You drop this directly into your Form 12 or Form 11 return. No bookkeeping, no spreadsheet, no chasing renters for figures.
If Revenue ever audits a return that includes Packhood income, the platform's records (every booking, every transfer to your bank account, every renter ID-verified through Stripe Connect) provide a clean audit trail. This is one of the practical reasons hosts prefer Packhood to a private cash-in-hand storage arrangement.
When to actually call an accountant
Most one-listing hosts can DIY the Form 12. Call an accountant if any of these apply: (1) you're already self-employed in another capacity (the interaction with your existing returns matters), (2) you have multiple listings or are renting out part of an investment property, (3) the income exceeds €10,000/year (you're approaching trading territory and the classification could matter), (4) you have any non-Irish income to coordinate with.
For €1,000–€3,000/yr from one storage listing in your own home, the cost of an accountant is greater than the complexity of the return. Use Form 12 on myAccount and move on.
Get listing — tax shouldn't be the blocker
The "I haven't listed because of tax" pattern costs Irish homeowners ~€1.5bn a year in unrealised rental income (Packhood Research Team estimate, based on Census 2022 garage / spare-room data and average rental rates). Tax should not be the reason your garage earns nothing.
List your space. Earn the money. Declare it correctly in October. Net the difference. Repeat next year.