Under Irish Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT), “retainer” is a key concept for working out the valuation date of an inheritance.

What is a retainer? 

A retainer is a situation where the personal representative (executor/administrator) is holding inherited assets for the benefit of a particular beneficiary, and:

– the beneficiary is entitled to demand payment or delivery of the asset

or

– the beneficiary has the immediate beneficial enjoyment of the asset

So, it is something analogous to actual delivery or payment, even though legal title may still be in the personal representative’s name.

Interaction Retainer/Valuation Date

For an inheritance forming part of a deceased’s estate, the valuation date is the earliest of:

1. The date on which the personal representative is entitled to retain the asset for the benefit of the successor (i.e. a retainer)

2. The date on which the asset is in fact retained for that beneficiary

 or 

3. The date on which the asset is actually delivered or paid to the beneficiary

In practice, the valuation date is often, but not always the grant of probate/administration.

But it can be earlier or later depending on when a retainer arises.

“Retainer” is not the same as the executors or trustees simply holding assets on trust to carry out general estate or trust purposes. 

It is specifically about the point at which a particular beneficiary becomes entitled in a real, practical sense to their benefit (i.e. can call for it or already enjoys it).

IT38/Surcharge

The Valuation date is important for CAT purposes as it determines the tax period in which a return (IT38) should be filed.

If the date is missed and an IT38 is filed in a later period a surcharge will apply, this can be 10% of the tax due and in a large estate this figure could be quite significant.

Example 1

A recent case that we had, illustrates the importance of establishing the correct valuation date.

• In this case probate had issued in July 2025
• There was a house in the will which formed part of the residue
• The will left the residue to the children of the deceased
• It was decided to sell the property
• The property sold in early 2026 – this date was used as the valuation date.
• However, in this case, the valuation date was the date of probate, because at that point the children could have taken possession of the property as tenants in common. Note, there is no requirement that an asset should be converted to cash before a distribution can be made, unless the will specifies that a property should be sold.
• The It38 was filed late leading to surcharge (paid by the accountant)

Example 2

• Probate issues in July 2025
• The will left the residue of the estate to the children.
• There were investments and shares in the estate
• The value of these assets were not determined until Feb 2026
• Therefore the valuation date will be Feb 2026, because prior to this date the residue could not be properly ascertained.

Note this is not an in depth discussion on valuation date but an illustration of the interaction between retainer and the valuation date.