Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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92. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to raise the threshold for inheritance tax for those who inherit from their parents, whilst being under 18 years of age. [25559/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) is the overall title for both Gift and Inheritance Tax. The tax is charged on the amount gifted to, or inherited by, the beneficiary of the gift or inheritance.

For the purposes of CAT, the relationship between the person who provides the gift or inheritance (i.e. the disponer) and the person who receives the gift or inheritance (i.e. the beneficiary), determines the maximum life-time tax-free thresholdknown as the Group threshold - below which gift or inheritance tax does not arise.

The Group A tax-free threshold of €225,000,applies where the beneficiary is a child (including adopted child, stepchild and certain foster children) or a minor child of a deceased child of the disponer. Parents also fall within this threshold where they take an inheritance of an absolute interest from a child. The Group B threshold of €30,150 applies primarily to transfers between other close relatives. The Group C threshold of €15,075 applies between more distant relations and people who are not related.

There is generally no age condition attaching to the operation of the various tax-free thresholds, except in the case of a gift or bequest to the minor child (aged under 18 years) of a deceased child of the disponer where the Group A threshold applies.

As I have said in response to a number of other recent Parliamentary Questions on this matter, I am reviewing the various aspects of CAT in the context of the preparations for Budget 2016 and the subsequent Finance Bill, including the level of the various tax-free thresholds. I will bear the Deputy s concerns in mind in that context.