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The short answer
Yes. If you are resident or ordinarily resident in Ireland, Revenue's rules treat cash you give to family as a gift within Irish Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT), even when the person receiving it lives in Nigeria. CAT is charged on the person who receives the gift, and the small gift exemption means the first €3,000 each of them gets from you in a calendar year is exempt.
Why money sent home can be a gift for CAT
Capital Acquisitions Tax covers gifts and inheritances. Revenue calls the giver the disponer and the receiver the beneficiary, and lists cash among the things treated as a gift. The current rate is 33%, in force since 6 December 2012.
Many people assume that money leaving Ireland is outside Irish tax. Section 6 of the CAT Consolidation Act says otherwise. Revenue's notes on that section say the whole gift is taxable if any one of these is true:
- the disponer (you, the sender) was resident or ordinarily resident in Ireland on the date of the disposition;
- the beneficiary was resident or ordinarily resident in Ireland on the date of the gift;
- the property itself is situated in Ireland, such as money in an Irish bank account, whatever anyone's residence.
So if you live and work in Ireland and send money to your mother in Enugu, the gift is inside the Irish rules because you are resident. Her living in Nigeria does not take it out. Revenue's notes add one exception for newcomers: a person not domiciled in Ireland is treated as resident or ordinarily resident for CAT only after five consecutive tax years of Irish residence. A Nigerian who arrived recently and is not Irish-domiciled may therefore be outside this test for now, but the rule turns on domicile and years of residence, so check it against your own dates.
The €3,000 small gift exemption
Revenue's small gift exemption is what keeps most remittances out of CAT altogether:
- the first €3,000 a beneficiary receives from each disponer in a calendar year is exempt;
- it applies to gifts only, not inheritances;
- amounts covered by it do not count towards the beneficiary's lifetime threshold;
- no CAT return is needed for annual gifts within €3,000.
The exemption works per giver and per receiver. Your mother and your father are separate beneficiaries, so each can receive €3,000 from you in a year. If you and your spouse each send money from your own funds, each of you is a separate disponer. The year runs from 1 January to 31 December, so a large December transfer and a January one fall in different years.
Above €3,000: the group thresholds
Money above the exemption is not taxed straight away. It counts against the beneficiary's tax-free group threshold, which depends on how the receiver is related to you. Revenue's table, published on 7 October 2026, shows new figures for gifts on or after that date:
| Who receives the money from you | Group | Threshold from 7 Oct 2026 | 2 Oct 2024 to 6 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your child | A | €420,000 | €400,000 |
| Your parent (a gift), brother, sister, niece, nephew, grandchild | B | €44,000 | €40,000 |
| Aunt, uncle, cousin, in-law, friend | C | €22,000 | €20,000 |
Revenue's groups page puts a parent receiving a gift from a child in Group B; Group A covers a parent only when they inherit an absolute interest on a child's death. Earlier gifts and inheritances in the same group, received since 5 December 1991, are added together. CAT at 33% is charged only on the amount above the threshold.
Worked example: a monthly allowance to a parent
Example. Ada lives in Cork and has been Irish resident for years. From January 2027 she sends her father €400 a month: €4,800 a year.
- The first €3,000 each year is covered by the small gift exemption.
- The remaining €1,800 is a taxable gift to her father, counted against his Group B threshold of €44,000.
- After ten years, the counted total is €18,000 (10 × €1,800). That is well below €44,000, so no CAT is due.
- Revenue says a return is needed when the taxable value goes above 80% of the threshold. 80% of €44,000 is €35,200, which Ada's pattern would not reach for about 20 years.
If Ada also sends her cousin €4,000 a year, €1,000 of that counts against the cousin's Group C threshold of €22,000 (80% is €17,600). Gifts to more distant relatives use up the room faster.
What to keep and when to check
- A simple yearly total per relative, separating the first €3,000 from the rest.
- Proof of each transfer: date, amount, recipient and purpose.
- Whether a payment was a gift or something else, such as paying a hospital or school directly on a relative's behalf. Revenue lists other CAT exemptions on its site; check whether any fits before you assume the money counts.
- Your own domicile and residence history, if you are a recent arrival.
For the receiving side of this, see gifts from parents in Nigeria. For planning a regular amount, see setting a monthly allowance for parents, and on the pressures behind family support, black tax and how to manage it.
Where Pryme fits
Pryme accounts hold euro and naira side by side, and Send pays a relative's Nigerian account. The app shows the rate and the fee before you approve. Each transfer can be saved as a regular or verifiable record through receipts and statements, which makes a yearly gift total easy to add up. This is information, not tax advice; for larger sums, ask a tax adviser.
Questions people ask
Do I pay tax when I send money to my mum in Nigeria from Ireland?
Usually not. The first €3,000 she receives from you each calendar year is exempt, and anything above that counts against her Group B threshold (€44,000 for gifts from 7 October 2026) before any CAT is due.
Who pays Irish gift tax, the sender or the receiver?
CAT is charged on the beneficiary, the person who receives the gift.
Does the €3,000 small gift exemption apply per person?
Yes. It is per disponer and per beneficiary each calendar year, so each relative can receive €3,000 from you, and from your spouse separately if the money is your spouse's own.
I only moved to Ireland two years ago. Does CAT apply to money I send home?
Possibly not yet. Revenue's notes say a person not domiciled in Ireland is treated as resident for CAT only after five consecutive tax years of Irish residence, but check your own dates and domicile.
Sources
- Revenue: Small Gift Exemption · accessed Oct 2026
- Revenue: CAT group thresholds (published 7 Oct 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- Revenue: CAT groups · accessed Oct 2026
- Revenue: Notes for Guidance, CAT Consolidation Act 2003, Part 2 Gift Tax · accessed Oct 2026
- Revenue: What do you pay CAT on? · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.