How to pay tax on rental income in Ireland while living in Australia?

JR1210

Hi
I was reading where non-residents have to pay 20% tax on rental income. How do people usually pay this and can you deduct expenses against the tax?
Is there a section on the revenue.ie website where you can declare the 2017 tax and send payment?
Thanks

mickdw

I remember reading that tenants must withhold 20 percent and pay it directly to revenue in the case of none resident landlord. I believe you can also nominate a friend or agent to take care of submitting the 20 percent to revenue so that you ensure it gets paid plus the tenant isn't left with extra hassle.
I believe you would then make a normal tax return each year claiming expenses etc and then pay or get back balance.

circular flexing

I do this from Canada.

You can either employ an accountant to do the return or do it yourself. I have done it both ways and it's pretty easy to do yourself.

You need to complete a Form 11, it can be done online. In previous years, you had to register for ROS but it looks like you can access ROS though myAccount now (not 100% sure)

You can deduct the following expenses:

- 80% of mortgage interest
- home insurance
- any repairs needed

I think there's more but that's all I claim.

You cannot deduct LPT as an expense (yet).

If your tenants have deducted 20% of rent they should send this to Revenue and give you a form R185 - read here

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tax_relief_for_tenants.html#le9d7d

Once you pay tax in Ireland, I think you can get credit for this against any tax paid in Australia (assuming Ireland and Australia have a tax treaty). You probably have to declare this income in Australia anyway.

pete4130

I am in this situation and up until last tax year in Ireland it was a pain.

Previously........

You needed to get a ROS number, which they would only post out to you, to an Irish address, then they post out the password for you to log in.

You would then have to download your "digital certificate" to your computer. You could then only use the computer you downloaded your digital certificate to, to ever complete the online process of paying your tax each year, if you didn't make a copy of it and save it somewhere.

I had it on an old laptop that har the hard drive fail, so no digital certificate and a big process to get everything posted out to you in Ireland again.


It needs to be paid by the end of November each year if you complete it online. It is fairly simple but there is a lack of instruction regarding which questions may apply to you.

If you have somebody renting via rent allowance/social welfare, you can't claim the 80% of mortgage interest every year, only every 3 years backdated, which is stupid.

I've spoken to my tax accountant over here about claiming relief on my Irish tax burden and she didn't want to know anything about it?

aido79

pete4130 wrote: »

I am in this situation and up until last tax year in Ireland it was a pain.

Previously........

You needed to get a ROS number, which they would only post out to you, to an Irish address, then they post out the password for you to log in.

You would then have to download your "digital certificate" to your computer. You could then only use the computer you downloaded your digital certificate to, to ever complete the online process of paying your tax each year, if you didn't make a copy of it and save it somewhere.

I had it on an old laptop that har the hard drive fail, so no digital certificate and a big process to get everything posted out to you in Ireland again.


It needs to be paid by the end of November each year if you complete it online. It is fairly simple but there is a lack of instruction regarding which questions may apply to you.

If you have somebody renting via rent allowance/social welfare, you can't claim the 80% of mortgage interest every year, only every 3 years backdated, which is stupid.

I've spoken to my tax accountant over here about claiming relief on my Irish tax burden and she didn't want to know anything about it?

Might be worth getting touch with these guys:

http://irishtax.com.au/

I've dealt with them for tax returns for the last few years but have got advice from them for my Irish tax return. They also put me in touch with a guy who does depreciation reports for Irish properties. Feel free to PM for his details if you want. For my property in Ireland I just do it online myself though using the Form 11

I definitely agree with the lack of instruction but I just assume I have filled it out correctly for previous years because I haven't heard anything back from them.

big b

I know a tax consultant would offer the best advice, but does anyone know;
If you let a sibling move into your house to escape the clutches of Mamo & Dado for a while, make sure the house is secure, warm, dry, ventilated. And this sibling has limited means so you let them live there with the only payment being said security etc - how would the tax office view that?

Peregrinus

big b wrote: »

I know a tax consultant would offer the best advice, but does anyone know;
If you let a sibling move into your house to escape the clutches of Mamo & Dado for a while, make sure the house is secure, warm, dry, ventilated. And this sibling has limited means so you let them live there with the only payment being said security etc - how would the tax office view that?

No tax issue there, as far as I can see. Your sibling is not paying rent, either in cash or in kind; you are not receiving rent. So there is no rental income to attract a tax liability.

Neon_Lights

Taxes like that would make you glad you left in the first place, Christ

Peregrinus

Neon_Lights wrote: »

Taxes like that would make you glad you left in the first place, Christ

Witholding tax on payments made to non-residents is a pretty common requirement, internationally.

Neon_Lights

Peregrinus wrote: »

Neon_Lights wrote: »

Taxes like that would make you glad you left in the first place, Christ

Witholding tax on payments made to non-residents is a pretty common requirement, internationally.

Peregrinus wrote: »

Neon_Lights wrote: »

Taxes like that would make you glad you left in the first place, Christ

Witholding tax on payments made to non-residents is a pretty common requirement, internationally.

That's all well and good, but if these are being consumed by a vessel of inefficiency, this is where my issue lies.

Peregrinus

Neon_Lights wrote: »

That's all well and good, but if these are being consumed by a vessel of inefficiency, this is where my issue lies.

It may, but nothing in the thread so far points to this, and in any case I don't see why it would be particularly relevant to the issue of withholding taxes raised by the OP. The point about a withholding tax is that, if you don't actually owe it, you can reclaim it.

Worth pointing out that the OP has moved from Ireland, where tax revenues are 30% of GDP, to Australia, where tax revenues are 34% of GDP. This doesn't tell us anything about the relative efficiency of public expenditure in either country, of course, but it does mean hat it's unlikely that his migration choice was driven by his attitudes towards a high-tax economy.