Sold US Shares with a US Broker. Capital Gains Tax Question

greenbamboo

My mother sold shares worth 94000 euros that was with a US company. She was a joint name on an account with my father for the last 40 years.The account was with bank of america in the US. My dad died 5 years ago so she decided to sell the shares last year. She received the money in November. The shares were bought by my dad in the 70s and he had the US account ever since because he was an american citizen.She is now worried about the capital gains tax involved and whether she will be cut off her old age non contribution pension or whether she even has to pay CGT at 66 years of age. She is worried that the irish government might take a huge portion of what my dad made on the shares.Does she need to hire an accountant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thargor

Im no expert but if she's resident in Ireland she's liable for CGT on any gains regardless of where the gains were made, definitely worth talking to an accountant though.

Or ask your question in the Accountancy forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=872

Atlantic Dawn

If the shares were in your fathers name only when he died and then given to your mother after his death there would be no CGT at that point, there would however be CGT on any gains made from the date of your fathers death until they were sold. Do you know if the account was used purely to hold the money and was seperate from the shares or was it some kind of investment product? Were the shares in joint names or just his?

whysomoody

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If the shares were in your fathers name only when he died and then given to your mother after his death there would be no CGT at that point, there would however be CGT on any gains made from the date of your fathers death until they were sold. Do you know if the account was used purely to hold the money and was seperate from the shares or was it some kind of investment product? Were the shares in joint names or just his?

This is important, as the gains made in the last 5 years, on average, would be im sure much smaller, so as a ballpark it would be c 33% of the gain (if there was one) from the date of vestage.
If the a/c was a joint account it might become more complicated though.

greenbamboo

She actually was a joint account holder but only in name as she was not an american citizen and only after dad died that they became solely in her name with the power to use them. They could not be held any longer in the US because she wasnt a citizen.she is meeting an accountant next week to discuss how much she has to pay but just out of curiosity, how does the revenue find out about this type of money going into a persons account from another country if you dont usually file any taxes and dont own a business or a property or anything.How would anyone find out that she had it in her account.just curious to find out more about how the tax system works in a situation like this. Thanks for all the replies so far.Much appreciated

alanceltic

greenbamboo wrote: »

just out of curiosity, how does the revenue find out about this type of money going into a persons account from another country

Its not even worth thinking about, there is a big temptation not to declare but the best advice anyone can give you is to pay your taxes and move on, the interest and penalties can dwarf the initial amount in question. As for how Revenue find out, there are certain obligations on your bank to question large transactions under the money laundering & terrorist financing acts. Aside from the banks obligations Revenue have their own procedures for tracing such transactions and Revenue for obvious reasons do not make these public knowledge.