CAT Dwelling house exemption/Section 51 relief

camira

Folks,
I'm looking for a little input on a slightly complicated inheritance issue.


My partner of many years passed away in 2007, I inherited her ''half'' of our
house via survivorship.(9 months after purchasing our house)
At the time I applied for the CAT Dwelling house exemption as I felt that despite the fact we had not previously owned property together we had a long history of tenancy and co-habitation.
The fact that we had lived together both in Ireland and Spain continuously since 1999, along with the leases and indeed affidavits from previous landlords and my partners family to cover the period up until we purchased our home that I could make a compelling argument for my entitlement to this relief.

To cut a long story short I asked my Tax advisor to pursue the possibility of obtaining this relief on the basis of ambiguity between the CAT10 leaflet stating the property must replace one 'lived in' rather than 'owned' and the fact we had lived together in various addresses for many years before purchasing our home all of which Revenue recognised as PPR's at the time.

The Revenue Commissioners, ultimately refused to grant the relief applied for.
The Inspector did grant me a section 51 relief/deferral,with the caveat that unless I sell our home or come into a significant sum of money that the bill will not fall due.
The R.C's refused to consider our previous living arrangements/addresses as material to the exemption application and as such the house didn't come into the 3yr rule.
I was granted a section 51 relief/deferral with the caveat that unless I sell the house or came into significant funds, Revenue would not pursue the debt(a happy outcome in the circumstances at the time).

So here I am 4yrs after I gained that relief.
At a stage where I have an asset that is worth at best @60% of the valuation my Tax liability is based on.

But my worry is this.
What happens now if I sell?
Ideally I would sell to finance a new home, I am in a relationship now that is soon going to become much more ''serious'' and it would be much less of a potential strain for us to live elsewhere rather than in the house my partner and I made our home in....
But given the drop in value, and the slice owed to Revenue I am actually tied to the house for the long term as selling or moving are unaffordable.

Given the changes in the law and the recognition of cohabiting partners and civil partnership in the interim since I lost my partner(2007).
Coupled with the significant and drastic reductions in property values nationwide affecting everyone in similar circumstances...
I would hope that Revenue would look at situations such as mine with an open mind and with a view towards at the very least an affordable and equitable solution based on a current value rather than a top of the boom price.

So folks, what do ye think my best approach to managing this situation would/should be?

nompere

Go back to your tax adviser.