Q&A: Can I accept IAG offer for just some of my shares?

I had planned to do nothing with my 4,000 Aer Lingus shares and not return the acceptance form.

However, I wonder would you know is there a downside to me accepting the offer for a portion of my shares, the profit from which would be below the €1,270 allowance, in the hope that IAG won’t gain 90 per cent of the stock before 2016, so that I can get next year’s €1,270 also and minimise my capital gains tax (CGT) liability?

Mr P.C., email

It’s always worth looking at tax efficiency with your investments but, on this occasion, I am not sure it is going to work out in the way you posit.

Technically, there is nothing to stop you pledging some but not all your Aer Lingus shares in support of the IAG offer. And, yes, you could do that in a manner that would allow you to maximise your capital gains tax allowance for this year – €1,270, as you note.

The trickier issue is the amount of control you will have over managing the balance of your holding.

With the Aer Lingus extraordinary general meeting having approved the IAG offer, we now know that the State’s holding will be pledged to the offer. In addition, Ryanair has said it will accept the offer, as have a number of smaller corporate shareholders.

As a result, even before you look at acceptances from the retail side of the shareholder base, IAG’s bid has well in excess of 50 per cent support.

If it gets to 75 per cent, the parent of British Airways and Iberia airlines has said it will move to delist Aer Lingus from the stock market.

At that stage, any shareholder who has not already accepted the offer is effectively locked into the company.

By definition, shares in a private company are much less liquid than they would be in a public company. IAG could not compulsorily purchase them and, in theory (though very unlikely in practice) it could decide not to purchase those shares next year.

If IAG gets support from the holders of 90 per cent of the shares, it can move to acquire compulsorily the remaining shares, including yours.

I would expect IAG would hope to be in a position shortly to do precisely that.

Only if it fails to do so will it be open to you to hold out on selling the balance of your shares back to IAG next year to secure the benefit of your 2016 capital gains tax allowance. But there’s nothing to stop you trying.

Of course, if you have invested in stocks other than Aer Lingus it is possible that you have already built up capital losses on previous share dealings; you can offset any gain on Aer Lingus over and above the CGT annual exemption threshold. The same applies if you still hold other shares that are nursing losses. You can sell them, crystallise the loss and set it against any gain on this transaction.

Finally, bear in mind that you can deduct the expenses of buying or selling your shares (the latter point being moot if you are accepting the IAG offer) before calculating any capital gain on your Aer Lingus holding.

Finally, you should bear in mind that the next decision day for you on this issue is this Thursday, July 30th.

Means test and adult dependant payment If a person is getting the oldage pension of €230.30 and his wife is getting €206.30, is there a rule that if the person's wife has assets over a certain figure in her own name she is not entitled to get the full pension – the assets would not include a house in joint names?

Mr T.McA., email

If you are in receipt of a contributory State pension by virtue of having paid sufficient “stamps” – paid or credited PRSI payments in Ireland or elsewhere – then you are entitled also to claim an allowance on behalf of an adult dependant.

Where the dependant is over the age of 66, the maximum adult dependant payment is €206.30. On the basis of the figures you have given, I am assuming this is the situation in which you are.

While, in determining eligibility to adult dependant status, no attention is given to any assets you may hold, any assets held by the dependant (outside the main family home) are taken into account. If you have shared assets/accounts, half of the value is attributed to the adult dependant for the purpose of assessing means.

In general, if the gross weekly income (including income from assets under a means test) is less than €100, you should be able to receive the full qualified adult payment.

If their income is somewhere between €100 and €310 a week, you should be able to get a reduced payment.

The adult dependant allowance is now paid directly to the dependant by agreement.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or email dcoyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice