I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the position in relation to gift tax is as follows. Under section 58 of the Capital Acquisitions Act, 1976, the receipt of support and maintenance, in money or money's worth, by a dependent relative, as defined under section 466 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, of a disponer will not be considered a gift or inheritance in certain circumstances. These are that the support and maintenance is received during the lifetime of the disponer and that the provision of such support or maintenance would be considered part of the normal expenditure of a person in the disponer's circumstances and is reasonable having regard to the disponer's financial position.
Apart from this, it should be noted that, gifts or inheritances received by a person, which in aggregate remain under the relevant tax-free threshold, would not attract capital acquisitions tax. In this case, therefore, and subject to the proviso that the person in question has received no prior gifts or inheritances since 2 December 1988 from disponers in the same group, that is, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, he or she could receive an amount up to £31,680, 40,225, from an aunt without incurring a CAT liability.
Furthermore, the Revenue Commissioners have specific powers under section 44 of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Act, 1976, to deal with individual hardship cases and depending on the circumstances, to postpone, remit or compound tax due.