Tax-Free Allowance (Capital Gains)

Anyone who sells physical precious metal — gold, silver, platinum or palladium — at a profit will ask the obvious question: do I have to pay tax on this? In Ireland the answer turns on Capital Gains Tax and, crucially, on the annual personal exemption that keeps small gains outside the charge.

The Irish rule

A gain made by a private individual on the disposal of bullion is a chargeable gain subject to Capital Gains Tax at 33%. Ireland gives every individual an annual personal exemption of EUR 1,270. This exemption applies to the total of all your chargeable gains in a tax year; the first EUR 1,270 of net gains is free of tax, and only the amount above it is charged at 33%.

Importantly, Ireland does not offer a holding-period escape. This is a key contrast with Germany, where a bullion gain becomes entirely tax-free once it has been held for more than a year under Paragraph 23 EStG. No such relief exists here — the length of ownership does not remove the charge.

Note: the EUR 1,270 is an exemption, not a threshold that flips the whole gain into charge. Only the portion of your net annual gains above EUR 1,270 is taxed; the exemption itself is not transferable between spouses.

How the chargeable gain is worked out

The taxable gain is calculated as follows:

Chargeable gain = sale proceeds - cost of acquisition - allowable costs

The cost of acquisition is the purchase price plus incidental costs (postage, insurance, dealer fees, premium). Allowable costs can include, for example, expenses wholly and exclusively incurred on the disposal. Where several tranches were bought, the FIFO principle is used to identify which units are treated as sold.

Worked example

1. Buy 50 g of gold in March 2025 for EUR 4,200 (including incidental costs).
2. Sell in September 2025 for EUR 4,900.
3. Gain: EUR 700 — below the EUR 1,270 annual exemption, so no CGT is due (assuming no other gains that year).
4. Had the gain been EUR 2,000, only EUR 730 (EUR 2,000 − EUR 1,270) would be charged at 33%.

The current gold price together with the historical price history can help you time a disposal, and the tax estimator gives a rough projection.

Common pitfalls

• Aggregate all gains: the exemption is applied once to the sum of your gains for the year, not per transaction. Selling both gold and silver in the same year means combining the results first.
• Losses: allowable capital losses can be set against chargeable gains, and unused losses can generally be carried forward.
• Payment and filing: CGT operates on a self-assessment basis with specific payment dates during the year; keep records of every purchase and sale.
• Withholding tax does not apply: the flat-rate withholding tax regime that covers certain investment income does not apply to a physical bullion disposal, which falls under CGT instead.

In short

Ireland's EUR 1,270 annual CGT exemption shelters modest bullion gains, but everything above it is charged at 33% with no relief for how long you held the metal. Keep clean records of purchases and disposals and, for larger positions, take professional advice. This is not tax advice.