how does rent relief work?

theboyqwerty

Does anyone understand how rent relief works? If €500 per month is the rent, what percentage is tax deductable for rent relief for the tenant? does it get given back to the tenant if they have paid the full amount? for example, would €100 get paid back to the tenant who paid rent of €500 last november?? How does it get paid back?

John Mason

if you are talking about tax credits, it is E400, a year and you can either apply for on the 01.01 for the previous year and get it back in a cheque form or you can apply to have your tax credits increase each month, so you pay slightly less tax each month

theboyqwerty

i'm enquiring as the tenant paid cash to the landlord but it was never lodged into the account that rent is normally paid into, meaning that there is no record of a lodgement to the accont. would it be best for the landlord to give the 20% of the €500 per month nack to the tenant, and then that would act as rent relief, kind of...

BC

The landlord can do what he wants but ultimately the tenant can still go and claim from revenue irrespective of what 'deal' he/she has going with the landlord. Best to just do it all properly.

theboyqwerty

there was only one month, the fist month of the tenancy where this was the case (cash not being lodged, but used for bills)also the tenant was not officially a tenant at the time and was not registered with the prtb until the month after due to the tenant being uncertain of whether or not they were actually going to stay in residence. the tenant was then registered under the prtb the month after when she decided to stay and monthly payments began to an account. My reason for enquiring is that there is no record of the payment from the tenant for the months rent in question and would it be easier to just give the tenant the €100 back rather than getting all complicated with revenue?

Ste.phen

I think you might be overcomplicating it:
Once you declare the income to revenue, there's no problem - doesn't matter if it was cash or lodged to an account, etc.;

I don't think the PRTB registration being off by a month is a massive problem, but if you suspect it might be, maybe the tenant can just say they started living there at the start of the second month? (or whatever date you registered with the PRTB) - They'll get the same amount of tax relief unless the rent is very low.

John Mason

the Revenue do not check whether rent was paid in cash or into a bank account. you do not have to show proof that the rent was paid. likewise they do not check whether the landlord is registered or not.

tell your friend to fill in the form and send it to the Revenue Commissioners