31 January is Capital Gains Tax Payment Deadline

Thursday 31 January is the deadline for payment of Capital Gains Tax on disposals in December 2012. If you made a Capital Gain in December, you will need to calculate pay your Capital Gains Tax liability by 31 January.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is charged on

• the sale of property or other assets.
• other disposals, eg the gift of an asset to a relative or other third party,and
• where insurance proceeds or another “capital sum” is received in respect of an asset.

On this occasion, you need to take special care to ensure that you apply the correct CGT rate in calculating your liability.

The Capital Gains Tax rate for the period from 1 to 5 December inclusive is 30% of the Capital Gain. An increased rate of 33%, applies on transactions from 6 December onwards, announced recently in Budget 2013 .

If you have a liability for December 2012, you must, by 31 January:

• Calculate or estimate your liability.
• Pay the liability by cheque or draft to the Collector General, FREEPOST, Francis Street, Limerick, attaching a CGT payslip which includes your name, address and PPS number
• If you are registered on the Revenue ROS system, you can process your payment online (which I recommend) and even pay by credit card (which I don’t recommend).

If you expect to have a liability but don’t yet know the exact amount, you should still pay your best estimate by 31 January. To avoid interest charges, it may be wise to pay a little more than your expected liability.

When your Capital Gains Tax position is finalised (ie when you file a 2012 Income Tax Form 11 or Capital Gains Tax Form CG1 Return by 31 October 2013), Revenue will bill you for any shortfall or refund you any overpayment.

The Revenue.ie website includes some useful online guidance on Capital Gains Tax but I strongly recommend that you seek professional advice and assistance if you think that you may have a Capital Gains Tax liability.