Frequently Asked Questions

This is a requirement for ISTI membership, to try to ensure that ISTI members have the knowledge and experience to work independently with clients outside the public sector. If you do not have 2 years of full-time post-graduate experience working as an SLT, you cannot be a member of ISTI. This does not mean that you cannot practice privately, but we would advise you to consider carefully before doing so.  

As ISTI is a membership organisation, it is outside the scope of ISTI to advise on specific insurance policies. However it is essential that private SLTs have both public liability and professional indemnity insurance, with many also choosing fitness to practice cover and contents insurance. If you have an employee, you must also have employer’s liability insurance.

What are the different insurance types?

• Fitness to Practise cover means that if a therapist is subject to a ‘Fitness to Practise’ complaint with CORU, the legal costs and financial support (for lost wages during the period when the therapist cannot work) is likely to be covered.
• Professional indemnity insurance provides cover for civil liabilities.
• Public liability covers members of the public that you work with.
• Contents cover includes clinic materials, toys and other items used in your work.
• Run-off cover protects you against claims made after you stop working independently as an SLT, whether you retire, take a career break or return to the public sector. As claims can be made for up to six years after you finish working in private practice, you need to maintain insurance during this period. This is called run-off cover. The cost of this cover usually decreases over the six years.

ISTI members choose their own insurance provider. Registered ISTI members can access discounted rates or access to specific providers. Email [email protected] for details.

As of October 2026, CORU provides Garda Vetting to SLTs who work in private practice who cannot access vetting through their employment. 

CORU have advised the following: 

“Registrants who have not been vetted by CORU or their employer within the last three years should take steps to update their vetting status. Where applicable, registrants should request that their employer submit an application to the National Vetting Bureau for updated vetting.

CORU can assist registrants who:

• Are self-employed; or
• Are unable to obtain vetting through their employer.

 Registrants who require CORU’s assistance in updating their eVetting can select “Yes” to the declaration “Do you require CORU to complete National Vetting Bureau eVetting with you? (Please select ‘No’ if you are currently vetted by your employer/organisation)” in Step 5 of the renewal process. Once selected, CORU will contact the registrant regarding the next steps in the eVetting process.

Please note that the National Vetting Bureau requires CORU to carry out in-person identity validation before an eVetting application can be processed through CORU.

If registrants have any queries regarding renewal or eVetting requirements, they can contact CORU at [email protected] for assistance.

In general it is sufficient to have your CORU registration number on all your receipts, as this is the typical requirement from insurance companies. Some of our members have reported that specific insurance companies (e.g. Laya) require the SLT to be registered with them; if this arises for a client of yours, we suggest you contact the insurance company directly and complete their registration process. 

If you work as a sole trader under your own name, you generally do not need to register a business name with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

However, if you use a different name for your private practice (for example, Chit Chat Speech Therapy), you must register that business name with the CRO.

If you set up a limited company, the company must also be registered with the CRO.

For further information, visit the Companies Registration Office website.

You do not need to register as a Limited Company in order to work in private practice, the majority of our members are sole traders. You do have to declare all income that you generate.

Many ISTI members have an accountant to do their tax returns, but you are allowed to do it yourself if you prefer.

To do your taxes as a sole trader in Ireland, you must file a Form 11 Income Tax Return annually under Revenue’s self-assessment system. You are responsible for calculating your own net profit, paying Income Tax, PRSI, and Universal Social Charge (USC), and making a Preliminary Tax payment for the upcoming year.

Step 1: Register for Self-Assessment
Before you can file your taxes, you must register as a self-employed individual with Revenue.
Your Tax Reference Number (TRN) will be your Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) once registered.
Register Online:

• Log into Revenue myAccount.
• Go to Manage My Record, select Tax Registrations, choose Income Tax, and input your business details.
• Sign up for ROS: Once registered for Income Tax, you must set up an account on the Revenue Online Service (ROS). Sole traders who register are mandatorily required to file and pay online through ROS.

Step 2: Keep Strict Financial Records
You are legally required to keep continuous, accurate records of your business transactions for at least 6 years. Keep regular track of:

• All Income: Sales invoices, bank statements, cash receipts, and proof of payment.
• Allowable Expenses: Receipts and invoices for items strictly bought to run your business. This reduces your taxable profit.
• Key Deductions: Log costs like internet/electricity split (if working from home), motor mileage logs, equipment purchases (toys, stationery etc.), and insurance.

Step 3: Understand the “Pay and File” System
Ireland uses a unique system where you must do three things at the exact same time every year:
File your Form 11 tax return for the previous calendar year.
Pay any remaining balance of tax due for that previous calendar year.
Pay Preliminary Tax for the current calendar year (an upfront estimate of your current year’s bill).

Step 4: Work Out Your Tax Liabilities
Your tax is calculated on your net profit (Gross Income minus Allowable Expenses). You are taxed on three fronts (*based on 2026 rates):

1. Income Tax: 20% on income up to your standard rate cutoff point; 40% on anything above it.
2. PRSI (Class S): 4.2% of your total net profit (or a minimum payment of €650, whichever is greater).
3. USC: Applicable if gross income exceeds €13,000. Standard sliding rates up to 8%; an extra 3% surcharge applies on self-employed income over €100,000 (making it 11% for that bracket).

Note: Remember to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (up to €2,000) on your Form 11 to directly lower your bill.

Step 5: Meet the Pay & File Deadlines
Missing deadlines results in immediate interest charges and a 5% to 10% surcharge penalty on top of your tax bill.
31 October 2026: The standard legal deadline for paper filings.
18 November 2026: The extended deadline if you both file your Form 11 and submit your payments online via ROS.

You do not need to register as a Limited Company in order to work in private practice, the majority of our members are sole traders. You do have to declare all income that you generate.

Many ISTI members have an accountant to do their tax returns, but you are allowed to do it yourself if you prefer.

To do your taxes as a sole trader in Ireland, you must file a Form 11 Income Tax Return annually under Revenue’s self-assessment system. You are responsible for calculating your own net profit, paying Income Tax, PRSI, and Universal Social Charge (USC), and making a Preliminary Tax payment for the upcoming year.

Step 1: Register for Self-Assessment 
Before you can file your taxes, you must register as a self-employed individual with Revenue.
Your Tax Reference Number (TRN) will be your Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) once registered.

Register Online:

• Log into Revenue myAccount.
• Go to Manage My Record, select Tax Registrations, choose Income Tax, and input your business details.
• Sign up for ROS: Once registered for Income Tax, you must set up an account on the Revenue Online Service (ROS). Sole traders who register are mandatorily required to file and pay online through ROS.

Step 2: Keep Strict Financial Records
You are legally required to keep continuous, accurate records of your business transactions for at least 6 years. Keep regular track of:

• All Income: Sales invoices, bank statements, cash receipts, and proof of payment.
• Allowable Expenses: Receipts and invoices for items strictly bought to run your business. This reduces your taxable profit.
• Key Deductions: Log costs like internet/electricity split (if working from home), motor mileage logs, equipment purchases (toys, stationery etc.), and insurance.

Step 3: Understand the “Pay and File” System
Ireland uses a unique system where you must do three things at the exact same time every year:
File your Form 11 tax return for the previous calendar year.
Pay any remaining balance of tax due for that previous calendar year.
Pay Preliminary Tax for the current calendar year (an upfront estimate of your current year’s bill).

Step 4: Work Out Your Tax Liabilities
Your tax is calculated on your net profit (Gross Income minus Allowable Expenses). You are taxed on three fronts (*based on 2026 rates):

1. Income Tax: 20% on income up to your standard rate cutoff point; 40% on anything above it.
2. PRSI (Class S): 4.2% of your total net profit (or a minimum payment of €650, whichever is greater).
3. USC: Applicable if gross income exceeds €13,000. Standard sliding rates up to 8%; an extra 3% surcharge applies on self-employed income over €100,000 (making it 11% for that bracket).

Note: Remember to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (up to €2,000) on your Form 11 to directly lower your bill.

Step 5: Meet the Pay & File Deadlines
Missing deadlines results in immediate interest charges and a 5% to 10% surcharge penalty on top of your tax bill.
31 October 2026: The standard legal deadline for paper filings.
18 November 2026: The extended deadline if you both file your Form 11 and submit your payments online via ROS.

Speech and Language Therapy is exempt from VAT under Irish VAT law, as it is classified as ‘exempt medical care’. This means that (for 99.9% of SLTs) you do not need to register for VAT. This is the case whether you choose to operate as a sole trader or a limited company, and regardless of how much money you generate (in other professions, once you exceed turnover of €42,500 you must register for VAT. This is not the case in Speech and Language Therapy, as we are exempt). 

However, there are some very specific circumstances where you may be required to register for VAT. This is the case for reports where the purpose is non-therapeutic (e.g. medico-legal reports). 

Exempt (No VAT): If the report is for the protection, maintenance, or restoration of health – such as a diagnosis or a clinical assessment for treatment – it is exempt from VAT. In this case, you do not need to register for VAT even if your turnover from these reports is over €42,500, as exempt turnover does not count toward the €42,500 registration threshold.

Vatable (23% VAT): If the report is provided for non-therapeutic purposes, such as for insurance claims, legal disputes, or an employer’s assessment where the main goal is not the patient’s health, it may be vatable at the standard rate (23%). If your turnover from these specific taxable services only exceeds €42,500 in 12 months, you must register for VAT.

Please seek professional financial advice if you are uncertain of which VAT  rate applies to your specific practice setup.

It is up to you how you choose to keep your financial and clinical records, but please bear in mind GDPR requirements for safe storage, confidentiality, and record retention.
There are a variety of electronic tools in use for clinical record keeping, for example Cliniko, WriteUpp, Halaxy, Zanda Healthcare, Power Diary/Jane, SimplePractice, iMed. These provide some financial invoicing and record keeping options as well. There are also bookkeeping packages such as Sage available.

The various benefits of each of these options are often discussed in our members-only WhatsApp Community so feel free to reach out to ISTI members for their opinions and advice.

GDPR is a complex area; you MUST have a GDPR / data protection and privacy policy in place (and also included on your website if you have one), detailing what data you collect and hold, for what purpose, where you store it, how long you hold it for, and how and when it is destroyed. It is most important to be clear and transparent about your policy.
For specific timelines, you can contact the Data Protection Commission for guidance.

You must keep all financial records for a minimum of 6 years to allow for any potential retrospective audit from Revenue. This 6-year period begins from the end of the accounting period, or from the date the return was filed (whichever is later).

Exceptions & Special Rules:
Ongoing Investigations: Records must be kept past the 6-year mark if a Revenue audit, tax appeal, or inquiry is ongoing, or if you have an unresolved claim.
Capital Assets & Property: If you claim capital allowances on a building or equipment, you may need to keep these purchase and improvement documents for longer than six years, particularly if you dispose of the asset.

It is up to you what policies you decide to have for your clinical practice, but some of the more common ones would be:

• Incident reporting
• Cancellation
• Discharge
• AI
• GDPR
• If you have employees – employment contract

It can be very helpful to have a clear cancellation policy. While you may choose not to implement it every time, it is useful for your client to know from the start what your attendance expectations are, what happens if they cancel in advance/on the day of/do not show up/are late. We suggest you inform all clients of your attendance/cancellation policy before they attend their first appointment. You may even wish them to sign a ‘sign-up’ document, including other things such as GDPR, cancellation, discharge, etc.

Private SLTs often get requests to take students. It is up to you whether you take any university / transition year / international / work experience students: there is no obligation on you to do so.

If you do, we suggest that you clarify a) the expectations of the student, and the requirements of their school/university, b) any garda vetting or insurance restrictions, and c) that your clients are happy with the student’s presence and/or input. If a student is leading the therapy sessions, your clients may ask you whether you are still charging the full attendance fee.

CORU does not mandate a specific, legally defined number of formal supervision hours for fully qualified Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs). Instead, they require registrants to work within their competence, seek help when needed, maintain high standards of practice, and engage in Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

However, working in private practice can sometimes feel isolating, so we encourage you to engage in informal peer support with your ISTI colleagues. While formal 1:1 clinical supervision is not statutorily quantified by CORU, it is highly recommended by clinical bodies to meet ethical and risk-management obligations. Many of our members engage in formal peer supervision in pairs or small groups, which you may decide to do also if you find a suitable peer.

NB If you delegate tasks to colleagues, students, or Speech and Language Therapy Assistants (SLTAs), you are required to provide “adequate and appropriate supervision” yourself and remain legally accountable for those delegated tasks.

This depends very much on the client group you are planning to work with. You should consider what assessments are essential for your client groups and age range: what equipment/ resources/ toys/ games are most useful?  Invest in the items you must have, and will use most frequently, and then add to these as your practice grows.

Try to avoid purchasing assessments for an individual client that you are unlikely to use often, it might be more economical to borrow or rent this assessment from another ISTI member. It may also be possible to purchase items from other or existing ISTI members; keep an eye on our socials for adverts from people selling equipment.

You should consider how you plan to store your records, whether this is physical or electronic. It is important that you keep these secure, and comply with your GDPR policy.

IASLT: For any concerns or questions regarding your scope of practice, ethical standards or clinical standards and regulation. While it is not compulsory to be a member of IASLT in order to practice as a Speech and Language Therapist in Ireland, they are still the representative body for the profession, and are best placed to answer any formal questions relating to our profession.

LEO: Many of our members have received invaluable support from their Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which can offer training courses, workshops and grants for various aspects of business development, from starting your business, to optimising your website, to longer Women in Business courses. Contact your LEO to see what supports they can offer, or chat to other ISTI members to see what they have achieved with the help of their LEO.