Move current investments to a PIA, or keep them separate?

• Cash only. The PIA accepts money, not existing holdings (s.747L(2)(c)). Only PIA-to-PIA transfers move investments as they are (s.747W).
• €12,000 a calendar year. A large portfolio takes years to move, so most existing investors will hold money inside and outside for a long time.
• Keeping separate is a real option. Existing investments carry on as they are; the PIA can be filled with new savings instead.

Rates as set by the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026, which is not yet law. See the CGT guide and the ETF tax guide.

Two things work together. First, each person can make €1,270 of gains a year free of CGT, so a sale sized to that gain costs nothing in tax. Second, the money from each sale can go into the PIA, within the €12,000 limit, so cash from gains you've already taxed (or exempted) moves into the account over time.

Selling €12,000 a year matches the PIA limit and uses the exemption five times instead of once, saving €1,575 in this example. Selling all at once also leaves €48,000 that couldn't go into a PIA that year anyway.

• No yearly exemption to use, so phasing doesn't reduce the rate; it only spreads the bill.
• Under the Bill the exit-tax rate falls from 38% to 35% for events from 1 January 2027.
• Each holding is taxed every eight years under deemed disposal anyway. Shortly after a deemed-disposal date, there may be little untaxed gain left, so selling then costs less.

• Tax paid on selling is money that no longer compounds.
• The €12,000 limit means a €150,000 portfolio takes about 13 years to move across.
• Any money waiting to go in is out of the market unless reinvested elsewhere.
• One PIA per person, in your sole name; no joint accounts.

• Use the €1,270 share exemption every year rather than letting it lapse.
• Sell losing shares in the same year as winners to cancel out gains.
• The 2027 exit-tax cut lowers the cost of selling ETFs after 1 January 2027.
• Couples each have an exemption and a PIA. Married couples and civil partners can usually move assets between them without CGT; unmarried couples can't. See PIAs for couples.

Many Irish investors still carry losses from the 1999 Eircom flotation, Vodafone shares or Irish bank shares before 2008. Those losses can be worth real money, but only outside a PIA.

• They carry forward with no time limit. A capital loss you didn't use can be set against later gains taxed under CGT, such as gains on shares you hold directly.
• Losses don't offset exit tax. Old share losses can't reduce tax on ETFs or funds, and they don't help inside a PIA, which charges 1% on value above €50,000 with no loss relief.
• The loss has to be real. Shares still held at a paper loss count only once sold (or, for a company that's worthless, once a negligible-value claim is made). You'll need records of what you paid.

Using losses means declaring gains on a CGT return (Form CG1, or in your Form 11 or Form 12) for each year you sell. That's straightforward for some people and a real burden for others. PIA·IE doesn't give advice; a tax adviser can confirm what losses you have.

• Very large gains, where tax today would outweigh later savings for years.
• Money needed in the next few years, where moving it gains little.
• New savings can fill the PIA's €12,000 each year without selling anything.

• Run your numbers in the PIA calculator
• Using the €1,270 CGT exemption to fund a PIA
• What the Bill says on transfers
• PIA vs ETFs