Capital gains
Retirement relief: selling or passing on a farm or business at 55+
Last updated 16 October 2026
From age 55, relief from Capital Gains Tax when you pass a farm or business to a child (up to €10m to age 69). Selling to others: up to €750,000 to 69.
From the age of 55, retirement relief reduces or removes Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when you dispose of a business or farm. It also covers shares in your family trading or farming company. You don't have to retire. Under 55, you can qualify if ill health stops you working and you reach 55 within 12 months.
Which assets
The assets must be used in your business or farm, or be shares in your family company. You must have owned them for at least 10 years ending with the disposal (section 598, Taxes Consolidation Act 1997). Investments held by the business don't qualify.
Passing it to a child
A "child" includes a stepchild, a child of a deceased child and certain foster children. It also includes a niece or nephew who worked full time in the business or farm for five years.
| Your age at the transfer | Relief from 1 January 2025 |
|---|---|
| 55 to 69 | Up to €10,000,000 |
| 70 or over | Up to €3,000,000 |
If your child sells the assets within six years, the relief is clawed back from them. Where the value passed to a child is over €10,000,000, you can put off the CGT on the excess. It becomes payable if your child sells within 12 years.
Selling to someone else
For disposals from 1 January 2025, full relief applies if the market value is no more than €750,000 (aged 55 to 69). From 70 the limit is €500,000. These are lifetime limits. Above them, marginal relief caps the CGT at half the amount by which the value exceeds the limit.
Two examples for 2026
| Farmer aged 62 sells the farm for €700,000: CGT without relief | €105,006.30 |
| With retirement relief (under the €750,000 limit) | €0.00 |
| Owner aged 72 sells company shares for €560,000: normal CGT | €142,206.30 |
| Marginal relief: half of €60,000 over the €500,000 limit | €30,000.00 |
| CGT payable: the lower of the two | €30,000.00 |
Claiming it
Include the relief, and any deferral, on your CGT return for the year: Form 11 or Form CG1. Revenue's retirement relief page sets out the rules for earlier years, when the age limits were different.
Work it out
Sources
- Revenue: How to calculate CGT (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: When and how do you pay and file CGT? (checked 25/10/2026)
- Revenue: Tax and Duty Manual Part 02-03-01A: Capital Gains Tax rate of charge (S.28) (checked 25/10/2026)
General information, not tax advice. HeyPenny is not a tax agent.