That's absolutely crazy so buying the same fund over and over doesn't help with the tax treatment of ETF's , I've gone from buying all world ETF's government bond's emerging markets etc to selling everything and just keeping one world ETF thinking I can buy into that regularly , man I feel pretty stupid now assuming that loss relief would apply in this case.
I'm feeling pretty despondent about the whole thing now and may just take all money out and stick it in the bank , I'm earning money quicker than inflation , this country is a bloody joke , what hope have people got of investing for the future when it's so difficult .
Thanks Marc for your reply , I obviously would sign a petition.
I have to disagree slightly with above. I emailed Revenue and they confirmed you do not ignore losses on same ETF sold in same tax year. Hence buying monthly batches of one ETF doesnt sound like the worst idea, as long as you sell entire fund in one tax year eventually. Similarly for deemed disposal, you'd include 12 buys in calculation for tax due, whether they are up or down, as they are deemed to be sold in same year. In examples below you include the E50 loss in tax calculations, as long as ETFs are same fund AND sold in same tax year.
I laid out below to Revenue, and they agreed all four are correct, via email.
1) Selling 2 shares of same ETF in same year (bought at E100 and E200 respectively, both sold at E150)
Here, since its the same fund AND the sale is in the same tax year, there would be a null gain, and no tax due.
2) Selling 2 shares of same ETF in different tax year (bought at E100 and E200 respectively, both sold at E150)
Here, even though its same fund, the sales are in different tax years, so there is E50 gain in first year and loss in second. Hence, there is E50 gain taxed at 41%.
3) Selling 2 shares of different ETF in same year (bought at E100 and E200 respectively, both sold at E150)
Here, since they are not the same fund it doesn't matter that they are sold in same year. Each fund is calculated independently. So there is gain on first ETF, and loss in second, which results in E50 gain being taxed at 41%.
4) Selling 2 shares of different ETF in different year (bought at E100 and E200 respectively, both sold at E150)
As point 3 since they are different fund.
Dunno if anyone still cares about this but that's what I was emailed from named Revenue source.