DEGIRO Ireland Review: Cheapest ETF Broker, But You Do the Tax
For a euro-funded monthly ETF buy, DEGIRO is the cheapest serious broker Irish investors can use. The trade-offs are just as real: German regulation rather than Irish, and no Irish tax report: you handle the Revenue paperwork yourself. Here's the honest picture.
Not financial advice. The information on etf.ie is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice. ETF investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Tax rules may change — always verify current Revenue guidance and consult a qualified financial adviser or tax professional before making investment decisions.
DEGIRO is one of the most widely used brokers among Irish ETF investors, and the reason is simple: cost. On its Core Selection list, a trade costs €1 and there's no platform or custody fee. But "cheapest" isn't the whole story. This review covers where DEGIRO genuinely wins, where it doesn't, and the one thing every Irish DEGIRO user needs to plan for: the tax admin.
| ETF trade cost | €1 handling fee on Core Selection (Tradegate); €2 + €1 on other ETFs |
| Platform / custody fee | None (just €2.50/yr connectivity per non-home exchange) |
| FX fee | 0.25% Auto FX on non-euro trades |
| Regulation | flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, German BaFin, via Dutch branch (not CBI) |
| Compensation | Cash to €100,000 (German); investments 90% to €20,000 |
| Irish tax report | No, you compute exit tax & deemed disposal yourself |
| ETF range | Thousands of UCITS ETFs; 1,000+ in the Core Selection |
| Fractional shares | No |
| Minimum deposit | €0 |
Fees and regulatory details verified against degiro.ie on 24 July 2026. Fees can change, confirm current terms before opening an account.
Cost: where DEGIRO wins
The headline is the Core Selection, a list of over 1,000 ETFs, including the funds most Irish investors actually want (VWCE, IWDA, CSPX). Buy one of these on Tradegate and you pay a flat €1 handling fee, with no separate commission. There's no platform fee, no custody fee and no inactivity fee, the only standing charge is a €2.50 per year connectivity fee for each non-home exchange you trade on.
ETFs outside the Core Selection cost €2 commission plus the €1 handling fee. And if you fund in euro and buy a euro-listed ETF, you avoid currency conversion entirely; where a trade does involve conversion, DEGIRO's Auto FX is 0.25%, higher than Interactive Brokers' near-interbank rate, but a non-issue if you stick to EUR listings.
For a €500 monthly Core Selection buy, that's €12 a year in trading fees. On cost alone, nothing serious on the Irish market beats it, see the full breakdown in cheapest CSPX broker in Ireland.
Regulation and safety: German, not Irish
DEGIRO is operated by flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, a German bank supervised by BaFin, serving Irish clients through its Dutch branch (AFM/DNB conduct) and passported across the EU under MiFID. It is not supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Among commonly-used Irish-accessible brokers, only Interactive Brokers and Davy Select are directly CBI-regulated. EU passporting is a normal, legitimate basis for serving Irish investors, but if CBI oversight specifically matters to you, DEGIRO doesn't have it.
On asset protection: your securities are held separately from DEGIRO via four Dutch stichting (foundation) SPVs holding client assets in omnibus accounts, which ring-fences them from DEGIRO's own balance sheet. Compensation, if something went wrong beyond that, is under the German schemes, cash up to €100,000, investments 90% up to €20,000. Those investor-compensation limits are lower than some investors assume, so it's worth knowing the number.
The catch: DEGIRO gives you no Irish tax report
This is the part that catches Irish investors out. DEGIRO does not produce an Ireland-specific tax statement. What you get is raw transaction data, your buys, sells and any distributions. From that, you (or your accountant) work out the gain in euro, apply the 38% exit tax , and track the 8-year deemed disposal date for every purchase yourself.
This isn't unique to DEGIRO, Trading 212 and Lightyear are the same, and it's a feature of how Irish ETF taxation works rather than a DEGIRO failing. But it means the money you save on fees is partly spent in admin time (or accountant fees) at tax time, especially if you invest monthly and accumulate many purchase dates. Our Irish ETF tax guide and filing walkthrough cover exactly how to turn those exports into a return.
Who DEGIRO is, and isn't, for
A good fit if you:
- • Want the lowest per-trade cost and buy Core Selection ETFs
- • Fund in euro and buy euro-listed funds (no FX)
- • Are comfortable doing your own Irish tax calculation
- • Want the widest UCITS ETF range available in Ireland
Look elsewhere if you:
- • Specifically want a Central-Bank-of-Ireland-regulated broker
- • Want a broker-provided Irish tax statement (consider Davy Select)
- • Want fractional shares to invest exact round amounts
- • Value phone support over email-only
The honest verdict: on cost, DEGIRO is the strongest option on the Irish market for a euro-funded ETF investor, and its scale and asset segregation are reassuring. The two things to go in with your eyes open about are the German (not Irish) regulatory basis and the DIY tax admin. Neither is a dealbreaker for most, but both are yours to manage.
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The cheapest serious broker for Irish ETF investors — but you handle your own Revenue paperwork
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Not financial advice. The information on etf.ie is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice. ETF investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Tax rules may change — always verify current Revenue guidance and consult a qualified financial adviser or tax professional before making investment decisions.