Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 579A

Attribution of gains to beneficiaries

Section 579A provides for the attribution of chargeable gains accruing to a non-resident trust to its Irish-domiciled beneficiaries, where the settlor either has no interest in the settlement or was non-resident when the settlement was made.

• Capital payments made by trustees to beneficiaries include asset transfers, conferred benefits, bare trust arrangements and loan benefits, but exclude arm's length payments and payments chargeable to income tax on the recipient.
• The section applies to settlements whose trustees are at no time resident or ordinarily resident in the State, where the settlor either has no interest in the settlement or was neither domiciled nor resident in the State in the relevant year or when the settlement was made.
• Trust gains are computed each year as if the trustees were Irish resident, and are attributed to beneficiaries in proportion to capital payments received, but cannot exceed those payments; a beneficiary can only be charged if domiciled in the State at some time in the year of assessment.
• The section does not apply where the settlement is shown to be carrying on genuine economic activities in an EEA Member State or the United Kingdom at the time the charge to capital gains tax arises.