CGT exchange rate for company shares disposed of in USD.

Tastebuds

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Hi all

I sold some company shares last April, I got paid in USD and I cannot figure out what exchange rate applies to pay the CGT

According to Revenue's CGT1 Guide to Capital Gains Tax " Where disposals are made in foreign currencies the cost of disposal proceeds should be converted to Euro at the date of disposal" .

But i rang revenue.ie, and they gave me a fixed figure for the whole month of March, which more or less corresponds to the minimum of the month. That rate is obviously not the average of the month of march nor the disposal date

Does anybody have an idea of how this works?

Cheers
 
Can you find out what the rate was on the day using xe.com and use that.

Foreign currency is a chargeable asset so the conversion back to euro is subject to CGT.
 
I expect they supplied the Central bank rates?
https://www.centralbank.ie/polstats/stats/exrates/Pages/default.aspx

I think it's one of those rather grey areas. The rate on the date is what it required, but I doubt any government body will give any daily rates.

You could take the rate from xe.com, but that raises the interesting question of suppose the monthly average was worse for you than the real rate. Is the real rate acceptable!?

Ix.
 
Yes, it looks grey to me too...

I think that whether the daily rate applies (as indicated in the CGT1 guide) or the monthly average (as indicated by revenue on the phone) is out of my control...

... but what baffles me is that the rate that revenue gave me does not match the CB rate...
I checked and the rate they gave me is used by revenue to determine Customs Values
Source:
For example: april rate is 1.0592 using revenue's figure, but it is 1.0779 using CB rates...

I really don't understand why they will keep a commision of almost 2%... and then charge CGT...

I wonder if Revenue was wrong on the phone and the rate to be used for Customs Values is not the same one to be used for disposal of shares?

Thanks
 
http://www.revenue.ie/en/personal/buy-sell/foreign-property/disposal-foreign-property.html

Its the rate on the day for both the buy and sell

5. Assets Acquired and/or Disposed of in Foreign Currencies

Where acquisitions and disposals are made in foreign currencies the cost of acquisition and the disposal proceeds should be converted to Euro at the dates of acquisition and disposal respectively.
Refer to Example 10 in Chapter 11, for a practical example of how to calculate a chargeable gain and tax payable where assets are acquired and disposed of in a foreign currency.

The example does cut and paste correctly so have just left in the relevant lines

Example 10: Purchase and sale of an asset using Foreign Currency (see Chapter 3)


[Conversion rate, 0.9629, daily rate at 6 July 1995]


[Conversion rate, 0.87940, daily rate at 19 May 2009]

Its self assessment so just print out the two rates and keep them with the calculation.

Talking about them keeping a 2% commission is unfair, as is the incomplete posting of what it says in the CGT guide
 
Thanks for your reply and help Ircoha,

Your post aligns to what I think/ said.
If you read my first post, I said that:
According to Revenue's CGT1 Guide to Capital Gains Tax " Where disposals are made in foreign currencies the cost of disposal proceeds should be converted to Euro at the date of disposal" .

I did not mean to give incomplete information at all. That would not help me considering I am looking for an answer.
I shared your understanding too about the disposal date, but when I rang revenue they said something very different, which implied using monthly averages, and an almost 2% difference in the April rate which obviously confused me. The wording "commision" was not appropriate. I just meant "difference" between the monthly rates given by revenue, which are not averages, and the dates given by CB (the actual averages)

Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your reply and help Ircoha,

Your post aligns to what I think/ said.
If you read my first post, I said that:

I did not mean to give incomplete information at all. That would not help me considering I am looking for an answer.
I shared your understanding too about the disposal date, but when I rang revenue they said something very different, which implied using monthly averages, and an almost 2% difference in the April rate which obviously confused me. The wording "commision" was not appropriate. I just meant "difference" between the monthly rates given by revenue, which are not averages, and the dates given by CB (the actual averages)

Thanks again.

I'm confused.

In your OP you quoted the guide that says you convert at the date of disposal.

What did you ring revenue for so?

I'm assuming it was to ask them for a rate?

If so, the person on the phone consulted what is the only source available to them, and gave the rate applicable at that date (albeit a figure for the whole month).

The point here is you need to stop for a second and look at the bigger picture; you were given a published rate which, if you chose to use, Revenue won't quibble about, as it is their figure. Alternatively if you want to go and calculate the specific rate at the date then fire away. I don't understand what the issue is TBH.
 
I'm confused.

In your OP you quoted the guide that says you convert at the date of disposal.

What did you ring revenue for so?

I'm assuming it was to ask them for a rate?

If so, the person on the phone consulted what is the only source available to them, and gave the rate applicable at that date (albeit a figure for the whole month).

The point here is you need to stop for a second and look at the bigger picture; you were given a published rate which, if you chose to use, Revenue won't quibble about, as it is their figure. Alternatively if you want to go and calculate the specific rate at the date then fire away. I don't understand what the issue is TBH.

Another financial source had previously told me that I had to use monthly averages. Then, I read the CGT guide and it said to use the date of disposal. Because, both views were contradictory I rang revenue who gave me a third model, which is to use their monthly rates, which are not averages.

Basically, I had 3 views - 3 models that contradicted each other and I got confused... which was the motivation to start this thread.

I am sorry if this created even more confusion :)
Following the published CGT guide seems like the logical thing to do

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Another financial source had previously told me that I had to use monthly averages. Then, I read the CGT guide and it said to use the date of disposal. Because, both views were contradictory I rang revenue who gave me a third model, which is to use their monthly rates, which are not averages.

Basically, I had 3 views - 3 models that contradicted each other and I got confused... which was the motivation to start this thread.

I am sorry if this created even more confusion :)
Following the published CGT guide seems like the logical thing to do

Thanks

Oh I'm not confused about how to compute CGT, just about your actions/questions, given the piece you quoted in the OP...!
 
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