Abstract-This paper presents a compact 2.45 GHz single feed directional circularly polarized (CP) microstrip antenna for radio frequency identification (RFID) applications. The proposed antenna comprises a dodecagonal microstrip patch embedded with an irregular polygonal slot, fabricated on an FR4 substrate. Two antennas, one with right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) and the other with left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), both resonating at a frequency of 2.45 GHz are presented. The measurement results show a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 5.5%, a 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 5.7% for both the antennas, a peak gain of 4.82 dBi for RHCP antenna and 4.67 dBi for LHCP antenna. In addition, the antennas provide symmetrical patterns with 88 • half-power beam width. The overall size of the antenna is 50 mm × 50 mm × 1.6 mm and offers an area reduction of 21.17%.