Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975

Valuation.

49.—(1) Subject to the following subsections, in this Act “market value”, in relation to any assets, means the price which those assets might reasonably be expected to fetch on a sale in the open market.

(2) In estimating the market value of any assets no reduction shall be made in the estimate on account of the estimate being made on the assumption that the whole of the assets is to be placed on the market at one and the same time.

(3) The market value of shares or securities quoted on a stock exchange in the State or in the United Kingdom shall, except where in consequence of special circumstances the prices quoted are by themselves not a proper measure of market value, be as follows—

(a) in relation to shares or securities listed in the Stock Exchange Official List—Irish—

(i) the price shown in that list at which bargains in the shares or securities were last recorded (the previous price), or

(ii) where bargains, other than bargains done at special prices, were recorded in that list for the relevant date, the price at which the bargains were so recorded, or if more than one such price was so recorded, a price halfway between the highest and the lowest of such prices,

taking the amount under subparagraph (i) if less than under subparagraph (ii) or if no such business was recorded on the relevant date, and taking the amount under subparagraph (ii) if less than under subparagraph (i), and

(b) in relation to shares or securities listed in the Stock Exchange Daily Official List—

(i) the lower of the two prices shown in the quotations for the shares or securities on the relevant date plus one-quarter of the difference between those two figures, or

(ii) where bargains, other than bargains done at special prices were recorded in that list for the relevant date, the price at which the bargains were so recorded, or if more than one such price was so recorded, a price halfway between the highest and the lowest of such prices,

taking the amount under subparagraph (i) if less than under subparagraph (ii) or if no such bargains were recorded for the relevant date, and taking the amount under subparagraph (ii) if less than under subparagraph (i):

Provided that—

(a) where the shares or securities are listed in both of the said Official Lists for the relevant date, the lower of the two amounts as ascertained under paragraph (a) and paragraph (b) shall be taken;

(b) this subsection shall not apply to shares or securities for which some other stock exchange affords a more active market; and

(c) if the stock exchange concerned, or one of the stock exchanges concerned, is closed on the relevant date, the market value shall be ascertained by reference to the latest previous date or earliest subsequent date on which it is open, whichever affords the lower market value.

(4) Where shares and securities are not quoted on a stock exchange at the time at which their market value falls to be determined by virtue of subsection (1), it shall be assumed, for the purposes of such determination, that, in the open market which is postulated for the purposes of the said subsection (1), there is available to any prospective purchaser of the asset in question all the information which a prudent prospective purchaser of the asset might reasonably require if he were proposing to purchase it from a willing vendor by private treaty and at arm's length.

(5) In this Act “market value”, in relation to any rights of unit holders in any unit trust (including any unit trust legally established outside the State) the buying and selling prices of which are published regularly by the managers of the trust, shall mean an amount equal to the buying price (that is the lower price) so published on the relevant date, or if none were published on that date, on the latest date before.

(6) If and so far as any appeal against an assessment to capital gains tax or against a decision on a claim under this Act involves the question of the value of any shares or securities in a company resident in the State, other than shares or securities quoted on a stock exchange, that question shall be determined in like manner as an appeal against an assessment made on the company.

(7) In relation to an asset of a kind the sale of which is subject to restrictions imposed under the Exchange Control Act, 1954, such that part of what is paid by the purchaser is not retainable by the seller, the market value, as arrived at under this section, shall be subject to such adjustment as is appropriate having regard to the difference between the amount payable by a purchaser and the amount receivable by a seller.