Gift / Inheritance Tax
If you receive a gift or an inheritance, you may have to pay tax on it. The tax payable on both is called Capital Acquisitions Tax. The current CAT rate is 33%.
The benefit is taxable if it is above certain thresholds. These thresholds are the amount you are able to receive over a lifetime from a certain category of person, based on their relationship to you. Whether or not CAT may be payable on your inheritance depends on whether the total value of all gifts and inheritances received by you from that person and from anybody else to whom the same group threshold applies in the period from 5th December 1991 up to (and including) the date of the gift/inheritance exceeds a tax-free threshold called the “tax-free amount”.
| CAT thresholds | |||||
| Group | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| (from 8/04/09) | (up to 7/12/10) | (up to 6/12/10) | (up to 06/12/11) | From 07/12/12) | |
| Group A | €434,000 | €414,799 | €332,084 | €250,000 | €225,000 |
| Group B | €43,400 | €41,481 | €33,208 | €33,208 | €29,887 |
| Group C | €21,700 | €20,740 | €16,604 | €16,604 | €14,944 |
Group A applies where
- the beneficiary, the person receiving the benefit, is a child of the person giving it.
- parents take an inheritance from their child but only where the parent takes full and complete ownership of the inheritance. Otherwise Group B applies.
- If a parent inherits from their child, and have full and complete ownership of the inheritance it is exempt from tax if, in the previous five years, the child took an inheritance or gift from either parent and it was not exempt from CAT.
Group B applies where the beneficiary is the:
- Parent – see also Group A above
- Grandparent
- Grandchild or great-grandchild
- Brother or sister
- Nephew or niece of the giver
Group C applies to any relationship not included in Group A or Group B.
Pay and file
The Finance Act 2012 amended the Pay and File date for CAT from 30 September to 31 October. Therefore all gifts and inheritances with a valuation date in the 12 month period ending on the previous 31 August will be included in the return to be filed by 31 October 2012. This means where the valuation date arises between 1 January 2012 and 31 August 2012, the Pay & File deadline is 31 October 2012. Where the valuation date arises between 1 September 2012 and 31 December 2012, the Pay & File deadline would be 31 October 2013.
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