Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
159. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Finance whether his Department has considered tax deferral mechanisms or roll-over reliefs for landlords who sell one Irish property and reinvest in another Irish rental property, similar to schemes in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54484/25]
View answerThe Deputy should note at the outset that “Roll-over relief” (under which the CGT payable on the proceeds of a gain was deferred if the proceeds were reinvested with the result that the tax liability is not realised until the assets are eventually sold) was abolished in Budget 2003 for disposals after 4 December 2002.
A rollover relief applied in respect of gains on the disposal of certain residential rental properties between 5 January 2001 and 3 December 2002, where the properties complied with certain housing regulations. For the gain to be fully rolled over/deferred, the entire proceeds, net of costs needed to be reinvested in similar residential property.
An issue with the relief was that chargeable gains which were deferred under roll-over relief were often never ultimately taxed. Therefore re-introducing roll-over relief would be likely to affect the yield from CGT.
Any proposal to introduce roll-over relief specifically for rental properties could have unintended consequences. It could have a distorting impact on the market and provide advantages to investors over first-time buyers.
In conclusion, I am not currently considering reintroducing roll-over relief .
