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Trust Law/Level VIII · Trusts of the world/8.1 Common-law systems/Lesson 4

Ireland

How Irish law treats the duration of trusts, trusts of land, charitable trusts, gift and inheritance tax, discretionary trust tax and the register of trusts.

Education, not legal advice. Trust law changes from country to country and state to state, and the right structure depends on your situation. Anything you sign should be drafted or reviewed by a qualified lawyer where you live.

The lean path

The cheapest, lowest-tax, simplest and most private route the law allows, best first. Each step names the rule it rests on and the condition that keeps it lawful.

  1. Gift outright first: each disponer can give each person €3,000 a year free of Capital Acquisitions Tax, with no return needed (small gift exemption). Catch: it covers gifts only, not inheritances, and anything larger counts against the recipient’s lifetime group threshold.
  2. Use a child’s Group A threshold, €420,000 for benefits taken on or after 7 October 2026, through an outright gift or fixed-interest trust rather than a discretionary one. Catch: same-group benefits since 5 December 1991 aggregate; a return is due once 80% is used.
  3. A lifetime discretionary trust for spouse and children defers Discretionary Trust Tax: the 6% charge waits until the disponer has died and the youngest principal object is 21, and the 1% charge starts the following year. Catch: then both apply, on Forms IT4 and IT32.
  4. Trusts for people unable to manage their affairs through age, improvidence or physical, mental or legal incapacity, and exclusively charitable trusts, can be exempt from Discretionary Trust Tax. Catch: the exemption is not automatic; trustees must apply to Revenue through MyEnquiries or in writing.
  5. Trustees can file on the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts themselves, through ROS or myAccount, within six months of creation. Catch: the register is not public, but competent authorities, designated persons and members of the public showing a legitimate interest can inspect it.

MaterialsLand and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, sections 16 to 18, free on the Irish Statute BookCharities Act 2009, section 3, on charitable purposes, free on the Irish Statute BookRevenue’s pages on Discretionary Trust Tax and on Capital Acquisitions Tax thresholds, at revenue.ieRevenue’s pages on the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT), at revenue.ie

Wonder

  1. If Ireland abolished the rule against perpetuities, can an Irish trust last forever?
  2. When does a benefit from an Irish trust count as a gift or inheritance for tax?
  3. Who can see the information trustees file on Ireland’s register of trusts?

Explore

  1. Ireland inherited English trust law, and much of it still rests on case law and older statutes such as the Trustee Act 1893. The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 made major changes. Section 16 abolished the rule against perpetuities and the rule against accumulations, together with older rules such as the Rule in Whitby v Mitchell. Most of the Act, including this section, took effect on 1 December 2009. Under section 17, the abolition applies to interests whenever created, unless before commencement property had already been distributed in reliance on the old rules, or someone’s position had been materially altered to their detriment. This lesson surveys Irish rules and does not recommend any structure.
  2. Without the rule against perpetuities, an Irish trust is no longer void because an interest might vest too remotely, so as a matter of Irish property law a trust can in principle continue indefinitely. Other limits remain, such as the trust’s own terms and the tax rules below. The 2009 Act also replaced strict settlements with a single ‘trust of land’ (section 18). It covers land held on any trust, including express, implied, resulting, constructive and bare trusts and trusts for sale, and land vested in a minor, and is governed by the general law of trusts. Lesson 5.3.3 compares how other countries have changed the perpetuities rule.
  3. The Charities Act 2009 gives Ireland a statutory definition of charitable purpose. Section 3, as enacted, lists the prevention or relief of poverty or economic hardship, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, and any other purpose that is of benefit to the community, and requires public benefit. The Act also set up the Charities Regulatory Authority, known as the Charities Regulator, which keeps a register of charities. A charitable trust is still a trust without legal personality, so its property is held by its trustees; many Irish charities use a company limited by guarantee instead. The Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 rewrites the section 3 list, but only some of its provisions had commenced when this lesson was written.
  4. Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) is Ireland’s tax on gifts and inheritances and is charged on the person who receives the benefit. According to Revenue, the rate is 33% on the value above a tax-free threshold that depends on the recipient’s relationship to the disponer, the person who provides the benefit. For gifts and inheritances taken on or after 7 October 2026, the thresholds are €420,000 for Group A (for example, a child), €44,000 for Group B and €22,000 for Group C; earlier benefits in the same group count towards them. A beneficiary who receives a benefit from a trust generally takes it as a gift or inheritance from the disponer. Thresholds change with Budgets, so Revenue’s website gives the current figures.
  5. Discretionary trusts can also face Discretionary Trust Tax, payable by the trustees. According to Revenue, an initial once-off charge of 6% applies to the market value of the trust assets, and an annual charge of 1% applies on 31 December to the assets then held. The initial charge arises at the latest of several dates, including the disponer’s death and, where there are ‘principal objects’ (such as the disponer’s spouse or civil partner and children), the date the youngest reaches 21 for property settled since 31 January 1993. Some trusts are exempt, such as those created exclusively for public or charitable purposes or for people unable to manage their own affairs because of physical or mental incapacity.
  6. Under the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Trusts) Regulations 2021, in force from 24 April 2021, trustees must file beneficial ownership information with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT), for which Revenue acts as registrar. According to Revenue, a trust must register within six months of its creation; trusts existing on 23 April 2021 had until 23 October 2021. The register is not open to the general public: under the 2021 Regulations, apart from competent authorities, a person could inspect it only by showing the registrar a legitimate interest connected with preventing money laundering or terrorist financing. Registration does not change how the trust itself works.

Key facts

  • Section 16 of Ireland’s Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 abolished the rule against perpetuities and the rule against accumulations, with effect from 1 December 2009.
  • Section 18 of the same Act brought strict settlements and land held on any kind of trust in Ireland into a single ‘trust of land’.
  • Ireland’s Charities Act 2009 (section 3) defines charitable purpose and requires public benefit; the Act also set up the Charities Regulator.
  • Irish Capital Acquisitions Tax is charged at 33% above group thresholds; for benefits taken on or after 7 October 2026, the Group A threshold is €420,000.
  • According to Revenue, Irish Discretionary Trust Tax has an initial once-off 6% charge and an annual 1% charge on 31 December.
  • Since 2021, trustees of Irish trusts must register beneficial ownership with Revenue’s Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts within six months of creation.

Exercise nine, six, three, one

9CollectList up to 9 rules described in this lesson or on an Irish official website you are reading (some sources give fewer), such as how long a trust may last, what counts as charitable, which tax applies and what must be registered.
6ClusterSort them into 6 categories: duration, land, charities, gift and inheritance tax, discretionary trust tax, and registration.
3DistillReduce the 6 categories to 3 groups: rules about what a trust may do, rules about how it is taxed, and rules about what it must report.
1CrystallizeWrite 1 sentence explaining, in your own words, why abolishing the rule against perpetuities in Ireland did not remove every limit on a long-lasting trust.

Fact check

Dates, figures and claims checked against the published sources listed below.

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