606 Disposals of work of art, etc, loaned for public display

Summary

This section provides an exemption from capital gains tax on the disposal of a work of art that has previously been loaned to an approved gallery or museum or to the Irish Heritage Trust, for a period of not less than 10 years (6 years for loans made before 2 February 2006) and has been on display to the public. To qualify for this relief, a work of art must have a value of at least €31,740 at the time it is loaned to the gallery.

Details

Application

(1) The categories of objects to which the section applies are “any picture, print, book, manuscript, sculpture, piece of jewellery or work of art”. The final, general term, “work of art”, could encompass other categories not specifically mentioned, for example, silver, glass, and porcelain.

Conditions

(1)(a) To qualify for relief under the section, the object must have a value of not less than €31,740 at the date it is loaned. The Revenue Commissioners are empowered to consult such person or body of persons as, in their opinion, may be of help to them to enable them to decide as to the market value of any particular object. A gallery or museum, which is to receive the object, must be approved by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of the section.

(1)(b) An object loaned to a gallery or museum must be the subject of or included in a display to which the public is afforded reasonable access and the minimum period of loan must be not less than 10 years (for loans before 2 February 2006, 6 years) from the date of loan. It is not necessary that the object be on display to the public during the entire period of loan.

Exemption

(2) Where after the end of the 10 year, or as the case may be 6 year, loan period the object is disposed of by the person who lent it, the disposal is treated, for capital gains purposes, as if neither a gain nor a loss arises on the disposal. This treatment applies only to a disposal by the person who had lent the object. It does not apply to a disposal by a successor in title.

Relevant Date: Finance Act 2021