Vol. 509 No. 3
124 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the plans, if any, he has to review the operation of capital acquisitions tax in respect of a family home passing to a member of the deceased's immediate family in circumstances where that member does not have an income and does not own any other property but does not satisfy the residency requirement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20237/99]
Where a child inherits from a parent and has received no previous gifts or inheritances from any source since 2 December 1988, a tax free threshold of £192,900 applies. In the case of a brother or sister, the tax free threshold of £25,720 applies. However, possible hardship is taken into account by the Revenue Commissioners when determining the terms of payment of capital acquisitions tax where the threshold is exceeded, for example, payment by instalment may be arranged, and tax may be postponed in certain cases.
I am aware of the tax burden facing certain individuals, particularly on the inheritance of the family home where they have been residing. I refer the Deputy to what I said in the House in response to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 371, 372 and 392 on 29 September. In those replies I indicated that in the context of the forthcoming budget, I am examining the capital acquisitions tax code in some detail.
The forecasted yield for 1999 from inheritance tax alone is about £83 million. This revenue greatly assists the Government's programme and helps achieve the ongoing goal of reducing the tax take on employment incomes. For this reason, any significant changes to the tax must be considered in a budgetary context.
