Pay off the mortgage or buy second property?

daheff

One other option you have is to sell the apartment and buy shares in the REITs. Effectively gives you exposure to property rental market while they do the landlord bit.

Possibility of dividend and capital gains on this (but possibility of capital losses...just like selling an apartment in a downturn).

Pawwed Rig

David Bumpy Crayfish wrote: »

It's been discussed on here before and the reality is it was brought in to bring visibility to the money changing hands in room renting.

It was never going to do that as it relies on people without a tax liability to prepare an income tax return. There would be easier ways of getting visibility than the current system.
In my experiences people are usually eager to declare their incomes to Revenue where required if there is tax to be paid.

Pawwed Rig

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

In my experiences people are usually eager to declare their incomes to Revenue where required if there is tax to be paid.

You have experience of very different people to me, the exact opposite of the above would be my experience of people in general.

Pawwed Rig

David Bumpy Crayfish wrote: »

You have experience of very different people to me, the exact opposite of the above would be my experience of people in general.

Yes but you do realise that your experience cannnot possibly be the case. Otherwise the self assessment system would have collapsed a long time ago.

Pawwed Rig

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Yes but you do realise that your experience cannnot possibly be the case. Otherwise the self assessment system would have collapsed a long time ago.

Oh people declare alright but you can be certain that a large majority of self assessed tax payers declare "enough to keep the tax man happy" rather than declare everything. You are very naive if you think otherwise. Like do you know a single trades person who doesn't do cash jobs for example, I've certainly never met one.

There is no chance in hell that people renting rooms for cash in their house prior to the rent a room scheme were declaring it nor would they if the exemption was removed hence there is no point in removing it.

Pawwed Rig

David Bumpy Crayfish wrote: »

Oh people declare alright but you can be certain that a large majority of self assessed tax payers declare "enough to keep the tax man happy" rather than declare everything. You are very naive if you think otherwise. Like do you know a single trades person who doesn't do cash jobs for example, I've certainly never met one.

Been working in tax for 7 years. People in general are honest. If a 'large majority' were fiddling the system then Revenue would not allow self assessment. For rental income it is often the case that people are too honest in that you have to harrass them to give you deductions against rental income. With the RTB, PPR, LPT etc there is little scope to be fiddling the books anymore.
If RAR tenants were required to be registered with the RTB to enable the LL avail of the relief then the issue would disappear overnight.

Arcade_Tryer

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Been working in tax for 7 years. People in general are honest. If a 'large majority' were fiddling the system then Revenue would not allow self assessment. For rental income it is often the case that people are too honest in that you have to harrass them to give you deductions against rental income. With the RTB, PPR, LPT etc there is little scope to be fiddling the books anymore.
If RAR tenants were required to be registered with the RTB to enable the LL avail of the relief then the issue would disappear overnight.

People in general are only as honest as the level of honesty the regulatory system requires.

Lumen

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Been working in tax for 7 years. People in general are honest.

People who employ accountants are generally honest, because they are spending money in order to be compliant!

I'm afraid you are suffering from selection bias. It's like someone who works in a gym disbelieving obesity stats.

evolving_doors

Ahhh sorry I suggested the rent a room scheme.

Anyhow there's no sign of it changing and it would certainly %%%% up a lot of people/voters if it did change. I think theyd rather not bother if filing returns came into play. Most I know do it do it because it's easy with little govt. interference.. as an extra income. And it serves an important function.
So maybe it's best assume tat it's not going away any time soon
If we're going to play that game then we need to assume every tax law or regulation could change and poor op wouldn't be going anywhere.

_Dara_

David Bumpy Crayfish wrote: »

Oh people declare alright but you can be certain that a large majority of self assessed tax payers declare "enough to keep the tax man happy" rather than declare everything. You are very naive if you think otherwise. Like do you know a single trades person who doesn't do cash jobs for example, I've certainly never met one.

There is no chance in hell that people renting rooms for cash in their house prior to the rent a room scheme were declaring it nor would they if the exemption was removed hence there is no point in removing it.

My father is a tradesman and doesn’t do cash jobs. I think mainly he has little time for people who want work done on the cheap, they tend to be hassle. And if he is caught by Revenue, the person who got the cash job rate is nowhere to be seen. They don’t care, they got what they wanted. I bet so many tradesmen feel pressured into giving “mate’s rates”.