CGT: Paying v Reporting

[99thFloor]

I am trying to get my head around how paying CGT and reporting CGT on a return have completely different deadlines, and not in the order that would make sense to me.

Apparently, for gains made during the year but prior to December 1st, payment is due in December.

Reporting the gain on a CG1 form is not due until October the following year.

Shouldn't the payment reflect what is captured on the return? How does the Revenue account for payments that come in before the return? Is there a system or form that accompanies the payment, saying this is CGT, and a matching return will come later?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I don't see the problem here?

For gains between 1 Jan and 30 November, payment is due by 15 December.
There is no Preliminary Tax. No need to do a return at that stage.
Just pay it via ROS.

For gains between 1 December and 31 December, payment is due by 31 January.
Again, you just pay it.

It's different from Income Tax, in that for many people it will take some months to work out their Income or Profits for the year and so they pay Preliminary Tax. You can calculate your actual CGT liability on 1 December.

For convenience, you do the Income Tax return and CGT return at the same time.

 

[T McGibney]

There's nothing stopping you or anyone from filing and paying well ahead of the deadlines. In the case of CGT, the former is something I strongly recommend.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Is there a system or form that accompanies the payment, saying this is CGT, and a matching return will come later?

Yes, on ROS, you
Select a Payment Type
Tax Payment
Declaration
Select a Tax Type
CGT

 

[99thFloor]

Thanks all. I understand that to you it may seem perfectly sensible and normal the way this is done. For a PAYE taxpayer who has never had a capital gain before, it's not easy to grasp because the obvious thing to me would be to fill out the CG1 return to calculate what I owe, and then send payment that matches that (hoping I did it correctly). I guess I will do that and submit them at the same time.

Another thing - the property (investment) in question was jointly owned by my wife and I. My understanding is that we can benefit from using both our €1,270 annual personal exemptions for capital gains. Should we split the gain and payments in two and file one CG1 each? Is that how this is accomplished?