In Ireland, a spouse can inherit everything tax free and child can inherit up to €400,000 from their parents free of tax under current inheritance tax exemptions. All inheritances and gifts in a particular category are totted up to see if the person has hit their tax free threshold or not. Small gift exemptionThat brings us to the small gift exemption – the €3,000 annual gift you mention. This is a very valuable tax relief and possibly the most flexible of the exceptions to general inheritance tax rules I mentioned above. This might be a way of leaving a very substantial benefit tax free to a favoured relative or a friend.

Source: The Irish Times January 11, 2026 12:15 UTC