Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 section 100

Exclusion of value of excepted assets

Section 100 provides that when calculating the value of relevant business property for business relief, the computation must exclude value attributable to "excepted assets" (non-business assets) and "excluded property" (company business property that would not qualify in its own right).

• An asset is an excepted asset — and therefore excluded from the relief computation — unless it was used wholly or mainly for the business throughout at least the last two years of the relevant period, or was required at the date of the gift or inheritance to be used for a specific business purpose within the following six years.
• From 1 January 2026, where an asset is claimed as required for future business use but is not actually put to that use within the six-year window, it is presumed to have been an excepted asset and relief is clawed back, with the burden on the taxpayer to prove otherwise; an amended return must be filed and any outstanding tax paid.
• Assets used wholly or mainly for the personal benefit of the disponer or a relative, or for investment or dealing activities (currencies, securities, land, or buildings), are not treated as used for business purposes; where property is partly used for business, it is split into separate qualifying and non-qualifying portions valued on a just basis.
• Where shares in a company are the relevant business property, any company business property that would not have qualified as relevant business property in its own right — taking into account the minimum ownership and use requirements — is treated as excluded property and left out of the relief computation.