Tax treatment of assets owned prior to taking up permanent residence in Ireland

MicktheMan

Hi,
trying here to help an inlaw with their specific situation.
He is a Belgian national who moved to and settled in Ireland in 1993 and still lives, pays taxes here since. In 1987 (6 years before he moved to Ireland), he inherited approx 50k of assets (property) from his deceased father. He is now thinking of selling the property (worth in the order of 200k) and is wondering how to calculate the capital gain. Does he use the value when he inherited it or some other value considering he already owned the property for 6 years before he moved to Ireland (i.e. is there some exemption for the years before his move to Ireland).
Also, is the inheritance included in the lifetime threshold again considering he received it before moving to Ireland (his mother is still alive)?

Thanks for any help with this (and I have already advised him to seek professional help considering the sums involved)

dogsears

Where is the property?

If outside Ireland and he is not domiciled in Ireland (i.e. broadly speaking this means intending Ireland to be his permanent home), he would only be liable in Ireland in respect of gains remitted to Ireland. He's been here for 25 years (unless you mean he got here is 2003 - the dates above seems to have a mistake) so it might be hard to argue he's not domiciled here but its by no means out of the question. I would urge getting professional advice - the concepts involved are quite complex and it seems like the amounts involved may make it worth it.

MicktheMan

Thanks for your reply.

Property is in Belgium.

You're correct; typo in the dates, now fixed. He has been living here since 1993. Inherited in 1987.

dogsears

In that case I would definitely say he should take professional advice on this. He should also be getting clear on exactly where he would stand in Belgium - he might have a liability there because the property is there.