Do earlier gifts and inheritances count?

Yes, if they are in the same group and you received them on or after 5 December 1991. Other groups do not count.

Revenue calls this aggregation. To work out the tax on a new benefit:

1. Find the group threshold for the new benefit, on its date.
2. Add up the taxable value of your earlier benefits in that group since 5 December 1991.
3. Take that total from the threshold to get the unused balance.
4. Take the unused balance from the new benefit. What is left is the excess.
5. Tax is due on the excess, at the rate on the date of the new benefit.

Revenue's example

Claire received a gift from her mother on 7 October 2026 with a taxable value of €40,000, after the small gift exemption. Her earlier Group A benefits came to €385,000.

Claire pays tax on the €5,000.

If the threshold has risen

The threshold on the date of the new benefit applies to the whole total, including older benefits. Tax you paid earlier does not come off, as Revenue's example for Annie shows on the Group B page.

Older rules

The rules above have applied since 5 December 2001. Revenue also describes historical aggregation rules for benefits received before that.