Private Disposal Transaction

When an Irish resident sells physical bullion for more than they paid, the profit is treated as a chargeable gain and falls within the scope of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. This matters to anyone who buys physical gold, silver or other metals and later sells them on. The Irish rules differ sharply from the German system, where a comparable sale is treated as a "private disposal transaction" under income-tax law with a one-year exemption.

How Ireland taxes a bullion gain

There is no holding-period relief in Ireland. Whether you sell your metal after two months or after twenty years, the gain is chargeable to CGT at the standard rate of 33%. Only the annual personal exemption reduces the bill.

The date that starts the clock for record-keeping is the date of acquisition, and the disposal is dated to the day the sale contract becomes binding.

Calculating the chargeable gain

In simplified form the taxable amount is worked out as follows:

Chargeable gain = Disposal proceeds - Acquisition cost - Allowable expenses

Acquisition cost includes the purchase price plus directly related outlays such as shipping, transit insurance and any dealer fees paid on the way in. Allowable expenses are the incidental costs of buying and selling - for example brokerage or valuation fees that relate to the transaction itself.

Where several tranches of the same metal were bought at different times, Irish practice generally treats identical assets on a first-in, first-out basis, which mirrors the FIFO principle in precious metal sales used elsewhere.

The annual personal exemption

Every individual in Ireland has an annual CGT exemption of EUR 1,270. The first EUR 1,270 of net chargeable gains in a tax year is free of tax; only the excess is charged at 33%. Unlike the German threshold, this is a true allowance rather than an all-or-nothing limit - exceeding it does not retroactively tax the exempt portion. The exemption cannot be transferred between spouses and cannot be carried forward if unused.

Offsetting losses

Allowable losses on bullion can be set against chargeable gains arising in the same tax year. Any unused loss may be carried forward indefinitely against future gains. Losses cannot be set against ordinary income such as salary. This treatment is broadly comparable to how capital losses work across most Irish assets.

How this differs from Germany

Investors who have read about the German framework should note the contrast. In Germany, by contrast, the sale of physical precious metals sits under income-tax rules for "private disposal transactions": a gain is only taxable if the sale happens within one year of purchase, and after that one-year holding period the gain is entirely tax-free. Ireland offers no equivalent holding-period escape - CGT applies regardless of how long you have owned the metal. For related German-specific concepts see withholding tax and precious metals.

Practical notes

• Keep purchase and sale receipts so acquisition cost and proceeds can be evidenced.
• On an over-the-counter cash transaction, you remain responsible for your own records.
• Cash purchases of EUR 10,000 or more trigger anti-money-laundering identity checks by the dealer under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
• Historical precious metal prices can help reconstruct a purchase price if a receipt is missing, though Revenue will expect proper documentation.

You can gauge the likely CGT effect of a sale in advance with the Tax Estimator.

Note: This article is general information and is not tax or legal advice. For your own circumstances please consult a qualified Irish tax adviser.

In brief

In Ireland a profit on selling bullion is a chargeable gain taxed at 33% CGT with no holding-period relief, after an annual exemption of EUR 1,270. Careful documentation of acquisition cost and disposal proceeds is essential.