Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 579

Non-resident trusts

Section 579 attributes chargeable gains accruing to a non-resident trust with an Irish settlor to the trust's Irish-resident beneficiaries in proportion to the value of their interests.

• Where trustees are non-resident and the settlor is or was Irish resident, gains of the trust are apportioned to beneficiaries who are Irish domiciled and resident (or ordinarily resident), based on the relative value of their life or reversionary interests.
• A beneficiary who becomes temporarily non-resident does not escape the charge: the apportioned gain is treated as accruing in the first year in which the beneficiary again becomes resident or ordinarily resident, and a similar rule applies where a beneficiary is temporarily excluded from the trust.
• Where none of the standard apportionment rules apply but the trustees have realised a gain and the beneficiary receives a capital payment from the trust while Irish resident, the beneficiary is charged on the lesser of the capital payment and the apportioned gain.
• The section does not apply to losses accruing to the trustees, nor where it is shown to Revenue's satisfaction that the settlement carries on genuine economic activities in an EU Member State.