Losses on shares inherited

holdfast

As the title suggest I inherited shares recently and they have lost 10% in value. I will go over the allowance allowed to inherit. Can I reduce the tax against the loss ??.

Also as I wont be back from work abroad till Dec this year at the earliest. Should I push to have the issue resolved as soon as possible since they have dropped so much in three months?

I have solicitor in Ireland, but I am think I need to a financial adviser as well is this a good idea or can the solicitor do the job?

Thanks for any help

Peregrinus

holdfast wrote: »

As the title suggest I inherited shares recently and they have lost 10% in value. I will go over the allowance allowed to inherit. Can I reduce the tax against the loss ??.

No. For inheritance tax purposes what matters is the value of the asset on the date you inherited it. Subsequent movements in value don't affect your inheritance tax liablity. (After all, if the shares had gone up in value after you inherited them, would you be going back and offering to pay more inheritance tax?)

Later on, when you actually dispose of the shares, there'll be a separate calculation to see if you have any liablity to Capital Gains Tax. You'll be treated as having acquired the shares at their value on the date you inherited them, and then they'll look to see if there has been any gain or loss on disposal. So if they fall in value and do not recover, when you eventually sell them you will have a capital loss. Not only does this mean that you will have no liability to CGT on disposal, but you will have a loss which you may be able of offset against any gains you may have on the disposal of other assets, thus reducing or eliminating your CGT liability on the disposal of those assets.

But note (a) you don't have either a gain or a loss until you actually dispose of the shares; as long as you continue to hold them movements in value up or down have no significance. And (b) all of this goes to your liablity, if any, to Capital Gains Tax. It's of no relevance to your liablity to Inheritance Tax on the acquisition of the shares.

holdfast wrote: »

Also as I wont be back from work abroad till Dec this year at the earliest. Should I push to have the issue resolved as soon as possible since they have dropped so much in three months?

It will make no difference to your inheritance tax bill.

holdfast wrote: »

I have solicitor in Ireland, but I am think I need to a financial adviser as well is this a good idea or can the solicitor do the job?

Depends on your other tax affairs. A solicitor should be able to handle inheritance tax matters for you with no bother, but if you are looking for wider advice on your tax affairs as a non-resident, or as a person with dealings outside Ireland, you might want to talk to a tax adviser.

holdfast

Thanks Peregrinus. That makes it clearer to me. I am only working abord for less than a year. So I am still paying tax here and the company is based here. So I guess that extra complication is not going to be an issue.

Thanks again