Children will be able to receive slightly more from their parents in gifts and inheritance before they have to pay tax following the budget.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said he would increase the lifetime amount a child can get via inheritance, or gifts during their parents' lifetimes, by €10,000 to €320,000.
“I recognise that there are concerns about the potential tax burden, in particular on the inheritance of the family home,” the Minister said.
The increase amounts to just over 3 per cent, roughly a third of the rate of growth in property prices, according to data published by the Central Statsitcis Office earlier on Tuesday.
The Government is on the record as saying it wants to increase this category A threshold to €500,000 over time.
No changes were made to the other thresholds governing inheritances to other relatives (€32,500) or to non-relatives (€16,250).
The biggest earner for the exchequer continues to be from those benefiting from a category B threshold, such as parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandparents and grandchildren of a person who has died. Last year, the inheritance tax take from this group reached a new high of €226 million, some 53 per cent of overall receipts.
