Competition Details and Eligibility
What is Your Take on Tax?
Your Take on Tax is a competition inviting Transition Year students to take on the role of policymakers and develop their soft skills for a chance to win a cash prize. Students work in teams of up to three to research a challenge facing EU Member States, consider how tax currently relates to the chosen challenge and propose one practical tax idea that Ireland could champion to address this challenge.
Who is eligible to enter?
The competition is open to Transition Year students in secondary schools across Ireland. Entries must be submitted by a teacher via the dedicated portal.
How many students can be on a team?
Each team should include up to three Transition Year students.
Do students need to have studied tax before?
Not at all! The Your Take on Tax competition is designed to be accessible to students with no prior knowledge of tax. Through the competition, students can connect classroom learning with real-world decision by using tax, like governments do, as a tool to support communities, fund services, influence behaviour and respond to major challenges.
Can teachers help students with their entries?
Yes. Teachers may support students by helping them understand the Your Take in Tax brief, manage their time, structure their research and develop their ideas. However, the final submission should represent the students’ own work, thinking and wording.
What do students have to submit?
Each team must submit a short presentation of no more than six slides. The slide limit is strict, so students should focus on clear, concise content. Each slide should cover different parts of the Your Take on Tax competition brief:
- Cover Slide
- The Challenge – identify and explain their chosen challenge
- Tax Today – explain how tax currently relates to the challenge
- Your Idea – propose one tax idea that the team thinks could address the challenge
- The Impact – explain the potential impact or expected outcome of their idea
- Summary
What kind of challenges can students choose?
Teams can choose a challenge facing EU Member States that interests them most. Here is a non-exhaustive list of example challenge areas:
- Climate action
- Housing
- Health
- Digital innovation
- Employment
- Education
- Inequality
- Transport
- Ageing populations
- Sustainability
The challenge should be one where tax could play a role in influencing behaviour, funding public services, supporting investment or addressing policy challenges.
Are there any resources to help us get started?
Yes. The Irish Tax Institute gathered some useful links to websites and other materials that could help students/teachers get started on their entries. This includes the Institute’s podcast, Tax Talk, episode with the Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD, on the EU Presidency and tax policy.
What makes a strong entry?
A strong entry will clearly explain the challenge and a good understanding of how tax relates to it. It will propose one realistic, creative tax idea to address the challenge and explain the likely impact of that proposal.
Clear communication, teamwork and critical thinking will be important. The slides should not be overcrowded or hard to follow. Sources should be noted appropriately. Most importantly, students are encouraged to be as creative as possible – originality is key to success.
Can students use images, charts or graphics?
Yes. Students are encouraged to make their slides clear and visual. Any images, charts, statistics or graphics used should support the message of the presentation.
Who do I contact if I have a question?
You can email yourtakeontax@taxinstitute.ie with any questions you have.
Entry and Judging
What is the entry deadline?
Entries must be submitted by the teacher by the competition deadline of Friday 4 December 2026. Late entries may not be accepted.
How should entries be submitted?
Teachers should submit a PDF version of their students’ six-slide presentations through the Your Take on Tax entry portal.
Each entry should include the school’s name, teacher’s contact details and the six-slide presentation. For data protection purposes, entries should only include team names. No individual student names should be provided at this point.
How will the entered data be processed?
Please refer the Institute's Data Privacy Policy web page to know more about how we collect and process your data.
How will entries be judged?
Entries will be assessed by experts in the field, using a standard judging rubric. The judging process is expected to consider understanding of the issue, connection to tax, creativity and practicality of the idea, clarity of communication, and the explanation of expected impact.
Are there prizes?
Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams at a prizegiving event in the Irish Tax Institute offices (D02 H927) in early 2027.
Is consent required?
Yes. In the Your Take in Tax entry portal, teachers are asked to confirm that they have collected the necessary parental/guardian permission to enter the team into the competition.
Further permissions will be sought for the prizegiving event in early 2027 for the top three teams.