Small Gift Exemption

Gifts you receive up to the value of €3,000 from any person in a calendar year are exempt from Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT). This means that you may take a gift from several people:

  • in the same calendar year
  • and
  • the first €3,000 from each disponer is exempt from CAT.  

Gifts of €3,000, as outlined above, are not taken into account in computing tax and are not included for aggregation purposes. 

This small gift exemption applies only to gifts and not to inheritances.

How to claim the exemption

A CAT Return is not required to claim the Small Gift Exemption for annual gifts of up to €3,000.  

A CAT Return is only required when the taxable value of the gift exceeds 80% of the relevant group threshold. All prior taxable gifts and inheritances, received within the same group threshold since 05 December 1991, should be included in this calculation.

The taxable value of the gift is then reduced by the €3,000 small gift exemption.

If required to file, you can claim the Small Gift Exemption by filing a CAT return Form IT38 online. This can be done through myAccount or Revenue Online Service (ROS). You can also file a paper Form IT38S, in certain circumstances.