{"id":117881,"date":"2025-10-12T19:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/117881\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T19:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:01:12","slug":"etf-investing-anomaly-endures-as-deemed-disposal-left-untouched-in-budget-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/117881\/","title":{"rendered":"ETF investing anomaly endures as deemed disposal left untouched in budget \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Irish Government has once again ducked in this week\u2019s budget the chance to fix one of the most irritating quirks in the tax code: the ETF deemed disposal rule. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Despite a 2024 review recommending its abolition and a cut in exit tax from 41 to 33 per cent, the latest budget left the rule unchanged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Under deemed disposal, investors in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pay a 41 per cent (soon 38 per cent) exit tax every eight years, even if they haven\u2019t sold. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The rule, introduced in 2006, undermines compounding and penalises prudence. It treats diversified investors more harshly than stock-pickers: profits on a speculative share are taxed at 33 per cent and only when sold, yet a low-risk global ETF gets hit earlier and harder. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Losses can\u2019t even be offset.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Minister of State for Financial Services <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/robert-troy\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/robert-troy\">Robert Troy<\/a>, while admitting deemed disposal is an \u201canomaly\u201d, hailed the rate cut and said it\u2019s \u201creally important that Irish investors invest in ETFs\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, the real deterrent isn\u2019t the rate; it\u2019s the rule. Deemed disposal brings needless complexity, forcing investors to frequently calculate notional gains and pay tax on profits they haven\u2019t realised. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most savers will avoid ETFs entirely rather than face that hassle. The Government insists reform will come \u201ceventually\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">For now the anomaly endures, a policy that undermines the very behaviour it should encourage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Government has once again ducked in this week\u2019s budget the chance to fix one of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[10471,79,18,19,2003,17,72170],"class_list":{"0":"post-117881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-investment","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-robert-troy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}