Exchange Fees and CGT: What Counts as Allowable Cost?

Updated 17 October 2026 · Information only · Not tax or financial advice

Short answer: Section 552(2) TCA 1997 limits the incidental costs of acquisition and disposal to expenditure wholly and exclusively incurred for the acquisition or disposal, being fees, commission or remuneration paid for the professional services of a surveyor, valuer, auctioneer, accountant, agent or legal adviser, costs of transfer or conveyance (including stamp duty), costs of advertising to find a seller or buyer, and costs reasonably incurred in a required valuation or apportionment. Revenue's manual says this definition is exhaustive: "no other expenditure is allowable" (TDM Part 19-02-10, section 10.5). Crypto exchange trading fees and network (gas) fees are not named in section 552(2). Revenue's crypto manual does not say whether they are allowable: its examples "do not take account of … transaction fees or broker charges". Whether a given exchange fee counts as commission paid for the professional services of an "agent" is not answered in the Revenue pages we read, so we cannot say it is deductible.

What Revenue's pages say

• Revenue "How to calculate CGT" (extract): chargeable gain = sale price minus purchase price and allowable expenses; costs "when you acquired and disposed of the asset" such as solicitor or auctioneer fees.
• Section 552 (statute extract): deductions are "restricted to" acquisition cost with incidental costs, enhancement expenditure and incidental costs of disposal; incidental costs must be "wholly and exclusively" incurred.
• Crypto manual (read): examples ignore transaction fees and broker charges.

Revenue also says professional fees are allowable only to the extent that they are directly referable to acquiring or disposing of each particular investment (TDM Part 19-02-10, section 10.6).

What to do in practice

Keep every fee statement. Ask a qualified Irish tax adviser whether a given fee (for example a brokerage commission paid to an agent) fits the s.552 list before you deduct it. Do not assume a fee is deductible because other countries allow it.

Made-up example

You sell coins for €10,000 that cost €6,000, with a €50 exchange fee. If the fee is not an allowable cost, the gain is €4,000; if it were allowed, €3,950. The difference is small, but the principle matters on large sales.

Related

Annual exemption and losses · Records · Which coins did I sell?

FAQ

Is enhancement expenditure relevant to crypto?

Not addressed in the crypto manual we read.

Is a network (gas) fee allowable?

Not addressed in the pages we read.

What we could not verify

Sources (official)

Previous: Dollar purchases · Next: Non-EU exchanges and DAC8