I understand. That's capital gains though I think. Still hard to believe no INCOME tax is levied.
Does anyone know if Spread Trading has always been tax exempt in Ireland or has it something to do with the EU?
No, you haven't understood me, my previous post had nothing to do with CGT.
In order for it to be liable to income tax you'd have to be carrying on an adventure in the nature of trade.
If you are carrying on a trade, you are assessable to income tax on the profits from the trade, and conversely if you make losses are allowed to deduct these losses from your other income in the year of the loss, and/or carry the loss forward against future profits.
So the question as to whether or not a particular person's profits from spread betting are taxable will depend on whether or not they are deemed to be carrying on a trade - google "Badges of Trade", and you'll see what these are.
Essentially, if you are engaging in full-time financial spread betting as a means of making a living, then arguably you would satisfy the badges of trade and your income would be taxable.
Whereas if you have a full-time job (which is your main source of income) and dabble in spread betting on the side, as a hobby, then you wouldn't be engaging in a trade and therefore wouldn't be liable to tax on your winnings.
None of this has anything to do with the EU either, in fact AFAIK the tax treatment is different in some European countries (I.e. Taxable as income).