VAT is governed by the EU VAT Directive (Council Directive 2006/112/EC), with which Irish VAT law must comply. Article 284 of the Directive permits Ireland to maintain two thresholds - €75,000 for goods and €37,500 for services.
Different VAT registration thresholds for the supply of goods and services are a feature of the EU VAT Directive and Irish VAT legislation and reflect the profound difference between the two supplies. In general, the value added in relation to the supply of goods will be much smaller relative to turnover compared with a supply of services. Having a lower VAT registration threshold for services reflects this difference in the proportion of value-added.