{"id":792440,"date":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792440\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:32:08","slug":"inheritance-tax-reform-could-unlock-e170bn-sitting-on-deposit-expert-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792440\/","title":{"rendered":"Inheritance tax reform could unlock \u20ac170bn sitting on deposit, expert says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reforming the inheritance tax<\/a> system could be a more effective way of getting the \u20ac170 billion held on deposit in Ireland back into circulation, a leading inheritance specialist has said.<\/p>\n

Dave O\u2019Brien, the head of tax at business advisory group Xeinadin Ireland, said a significant part of this wealth is owned by older people who have no incentive to pass it on to the next generation because of the tax implications.<\/p>\n

The tax-free threshold for children inheriting from their parents is \u20ac400,000, after which a capital acquisitions tax (CAT) of 33 per cent applies. The threshold was \u20ac542,000 and the tax 20 per cent before the financial crisis.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said the Government should consider the seven-year gifting rule adopted by the UK<\/a> which encourages earlier transfers of wealth by allowing the transfer to be tax free if the donor survives for seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was an incentive to give those monies away during a lifetime without a tax liability then there would be nothing to stop parents giving the money to their children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you\u2019re giving the money to people who are younger, who are in their 30s and 40s, and they\u2019re either spending the money [incurring VAT] or investing the money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The current system can incentivise families to hold assets until death, \u201cwhen policy could instead encourage money and assets to move earlier through the economy\u201d, O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

While the Government is planning to introduce a new State-sponsored savings and investment scheme as part of Tuesday\u2019s budget<\/a> with the aim of channelling some of the \u20ac170 billion sitting idle on deposit back into the real economy, O\u2019Brien said offering more tax-efficient ways of transferring wealth between generations could work better.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Coalition leaders discuss last ditch bid to cut student fees by \u20ac250 in budgetOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Another mechanism might be to lower the CAT rate from 33 to 20 per cent, where it was before the financial crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was the Government I\u2019d be more leaning to that as you\u2019re getting an intake of 20 per cent in tax, you\u2019re not losing the full 33 per cent, and you\u2019re still getting the money to go around,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

The Government is expected to lift the tax-free thresholds for each category of inheritance or gift in the budget, amid criticism they have not kept pace with rising property values.<\/p>\n

The Category A threshold (\u20ac400,000) governs inheritances received by children, while the Category B threshold (\u20ac40,000) covers inheritances received by siblings, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have discussed, and are considering, broader adjustments to inheritance tax across different categories but it will be within what\u2019s available,\u201d Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers told the recent Dublin Economics Workshop event in Wexford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reforming the inheritance tax system could be a more effective way of getting the \u20ac170 billion held on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[458,84,4176,10429,62156,4174,4175,474,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-792440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-budget","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-inheritance-tax","tag-jack-chambers","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-tax","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}