Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 191

Taxation treatment of Hepatitis C compensation payments

Section 191 exempts from income tax and capital gains tax compensation payments made to individuals diagnosed positive for Hepatitis C or HIV as a result of infected blood products, whether paid by the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal, through civil actions for personal injury, or under comparable overseas schemes.

• Compensation payments made by the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal, or awarded through civil actions for personal injury damages, are fully exempt from both income tax and capital gains tax.
• The exemption extends to payments from comparable compensation schemes in other EEA member states (from 1 January 2019) and the United Kingdom (from 31 December 2020).
• Tribunal and comparable overseas scheme payments are treated as personal injury compensation, bringing them within the scope of section 189 so that investment income and capital gains arising from those payments may also be exempt from tax.
• The section 189 investment exemption applies only where the individual is permanently and totally incapacitated, and the combined investment income and gains exceed 50% of the individual's total income and chargeable gains for the year; exempt income must still be included in the tax return.