Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reliefs

Principal Private Residence (PPR) Relief

A Principal Private Residence (PPR) is a house or apartment which you own and occupy as your only, or main, residence.

You will be exempt from CGT if you dispose of a property that, for the entire period of ownership, you:

  • lived in it as your main residence
  • used all the property as your home.

This exemption also applies to land, up to one acre (0.405 hectares), around a house. This excludes the site of the house, which is not taken into account when applying the relief. 

PPR Relief is restricted if you did not fully occupy the property or the sale price has development value.

Note

The last 12 months of ownership of a PPR is considered to be included in your period of occupation.

This allows for the possibility that you have moved into your new home, but have not sold your previous home.

Restriction if only part of your property was used as a home

You can only claim for the part of the house you used as your home. For example, you might have used half your house as your home, and half for your business. You can claim exemption on half of the chargeable gain.

The Rent-a-Room scheme will not affect your claim for full exemption.

Restriction if you have not always lived in the property

You can only claim for the time you lived in the property.

Absences considered as living in the property

You will be considered to have lived in your property where:

  • you could not live in the property because your employer required you to live elsewhere (up to a four-year maximum.)
  • you had a job, all the duties of which were performed outside the Republic of Ireland
  • your PPR remained unoccupied and you were either:
    • receiving care in a hospital, nursing home or convalescent home
    • resident in a retirement home on a fee-paying basis.

Restriction if your property has development value

Your property might have a higher potential value than the value it has based on how you currently use it. The higher value is known as ‘development value’.

You might sell your home and land up to one acre for its development value. PPR Relief only applies to the value of the house or land without its development value.

Before you can calculate your partial PPR Relief, you must work out your 'notional gain'.

How to calculate notional gain

You will need to deduct part of the expenses from the current use value.

  1. Work out the part of the expense:
    • Multiply the total expenses of sale by the current use value.
    • Divide this by the sale price.
  2. Deduct this amount from the current use value.

How to calculate partial PPR Relief

  1. Work out your notional gain.
  2. Deduct the value at the date you bought the residence.

How to claim the relief

Include the relief when you calculate CGT and file your return.

Next: Property acquired between 7 December 2011 and 31 December 2014