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Which form do I file?

Capital Gains Tax on shares, in plain English: which return, how to pay, and when

The short answer

Most people who sell shares file one of three forms. Which one depends on your other income, not on your gains.

  1. Are you self-employed or a proprietary director, or do you have €5,000 or more of non-PAYE income? Form 11 Non-PAYE income is income not taxed through your payslip, such as dividends, deposit interest, rent or side income. The limit is €5,000 after expenses, or €30,000 before them. Filing for 2023 or earlier? If you owed RTSO1 that year, on share options or on ESPP shares, that also means a Form 11. From 2024 that tax goes through payroll and no longer counts.
  2. If not: do you need to file an income tax return anyway? Paper Form 12 The paper Form 12 covers your income and your gains. If you file the online Form 12 in myAccount instead, it can't include gains, so you also file a CG1.
  3. Neither of those? Form CG1 This is most PAYE employees whose only extra activity is selling shares.
Selling shares doesn't put you on Form 11. Capital gains are not income, so they don't count towards the €5,000 and €30,000 limits.

Form CG1

Capital gains only
Who it's for
You don't usually file a tax return, or you file the online Form 12 for your income tax.
How to file
A paper form. Sign it, then post it or upload it in myAccount or ROS.
File by
31 October of the year after you sold.

Form 12

Income tax return for PAYE employees
Who it's for
PAYE employees who must file a tax return and are under the Form 11 limits.
How to file
Paper, by post, if you have gains to report. The online Form 12 can't include them.
File by
31 October of the year after you sold.

Form 11

Full self-assessment return: income and gains
Who it's for
Self-employed people, proprietary directors, and anyone over the non-PAYE income limits.
How to file
Online through ROS.
File by
31 October of the year after you sold, or mid-November if you both file and pay through ROS.

Paying is a separate step

Whichever form you file, you pay the tax online. The payment dates come before the return is due.

Step 1, once

Register for CGT

In myAccount or ROS, go to Tax Registrations and choose Register on the CGT line. You need this before you can pay.

Step 2

Pay

Pay online through myAccount or ROS, by the payment date for when you sold. Paying isn't a form.

Step 3

File your return

File your CG1, Form 12 or Form 11 by 31 October of the following year.

Key dates

The payment date depends on when you sold. The return covers the whole year.

You sold Pay by File the return by
1 January to 30 November 15 December, same year 31 October, next year
1 to 31 December 31 January, next year 31 October, next year

Sold shares in 2025

  • Return due by 31 October 2026.
  • Form 11 filed and paid through ROS: 18 November 2026.
  • Payment was due on 15 December 2025 (January to November sales) and 31 January 2026 (December sales).

Selling shares in 2026

  • Pay by 15 December 2026 for sales from January to November.
  • Pay by 31 January 2027 for December sales.
  • Return due by 31 October 2027.
No tax to pay? The return is still due if you sold. That includes when losses or reliefs bring the tax to nil.

More detail

Open any question for the detail.

Am I a chargeable person?

Form 11 is for people who are "chargeable persons" for income tax. Revenue's notes on the 2025 Form 11 and Form 12 say an employee is one if any of these apply:

  • Net non-PAYE income of €5,000 or more, after losses, capital allowances and other reliefs.
  • Gross non-PAYE income of €30,000 or more, even if the net figure is lower.
  • You are a proprietary director.

Self-employed people file a Form 11 too.

For 2023 and earlier only: exercising, assigning or releasing a share option also made you a chargeable person for that year. See share options below.

If your net non-PAYE income is under €5,000 and is taxed through your tax credits or at source, you're not a chargeable person.

Capital gains don't count towards any of these limits.

What counts as non-PAYE income?

Income that isn't taxed through your payslip. For people who hold shares, the usual ones are:

  • Dividends, Irish or foreign. US dividends from shares at a broker count.
  • Deposit interest, including interest that had DIRT taken off.
  • Rent.
  • Freelance or side-business income.

Example: €6,000 of US dividends in a year is over the €5,000 limit, which means a Form 11.

Share options, RSUs and ESPP
  • Share options, 2024 onwards: your employer takes the tax on option gains through payroll. Exercising, assigning or releasing an option doesn't, on its own, make you a chargeable person (note 5 on the 2025 Form 11).
  • Share options, 2023 and earlier: you paid the tax yourself with Form RTSO1, and that made you a chargeable person for the year. That year's return is a Form 11.
  • ESPP: most plans tax the discount as pay, through payroll. That doesn't make you a chargeable person. Some plans are drafted as share options, and those follow the share option rules above. If you paid RTSO1 on ESPP shares, yours is one of them: for 2023 and earlier, that year's return is a Form 11.
  • RSUs: the shares are taxed as pay when they vest, through payroll.
  • Selling the shares later is a capital gain or loss like any other sale, whatever the scheme. It goes on whichever form applies to you.
Sending a CG1 or paper Form 12
  • Get the form: download the Form CG1 or Form 12 from revenue.ie and print it. Revenue's CG1 helpsheet explains each line.
  • Sign it. Revenue returns an unsigned CG1.
  • CG1: upload the signed form in myAccount or ROS, using "Upload documents", or post it.
  • Form 12: post it.
  • Post to: Revenue Commissioners, Government Offices, Kilrush Road, Clonroad Beg, Ennis, Co. Clare. Use any envelope and write "Freepost" above the address. No stamp needed.
  • Posting? Post it early and keep a copy. The deadline is still 31 October.
  • Tip from Revenue: attach a computation showing how you worked out your gains and losses. It can save follow-up queries.
  • Filing a CG1 by 31 August? Revenue works out the self-assessment for you, so you can leave that panel blank.
  • One return, not two: a paper Form 12 or a Form 11 already includes your gains. Don't also send a CG1.
Why can't I use the online Form 12?

The online Form 12 in myAccount can't carry capital gains. Revenue's CGT page says so directly. Some older articles say you can add CGT to it. Go by Revenue.

If you file the online Form 12 for your income tax, report your gains on a CG1.

Filing a Form 11 through ROS
  • You need to be registered for ROS (Revenue Online Service). Registration has steps, and your ROS access number comes by post, which can take 5 to 7 working days. Start early.
  • File and pay through ROS and you get a later deadline. For 2025 returns it is 18 November 2026. If you do only one of the two through ROS, the date stays 31 October.
  • The later date is for the return. CGT payment dates don't move.
Filing or paying late
  • Late return: a surcharge is added to the tax. It is 5% (up to €12,695) if the return is up to two months late, and 10% (up to €63,485) after that.
  • Late payment: interest is charged.
Married or in a civil partnership
  • Each of you has a €1,270 personal exemption a year. It can't be transferred to the other.
  • The forms have a column for each of you.
Video walkthroughs

The team at The Learnings Report made these guides. Forms change a little each year, so check each line against the current form.

In simplecgt: open a year in your calculation to see each figure and the form line it goes on.

General information, not tax advice. You review and file your own return. Checked against Revenue's 2025 forms and guidance on 18 October 2026.

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