Tax relief - Nursing home

taxdummy

I am trying to get my head around the ins/outs of tax relief on nursing home fees. I have a parent who will be going into a nursing home soon, and we are looking at the most cost efficient way to help fund the nursing home.

For ease of admin, my plan was to set up a new current account, and all monies for the nursing home would be paid into/out of this account. Each month I will transfer monies to this account, my wife will do the same, and likewise some of my parents cash assets would be paid over.

Suppose the cost of the nursing home is 50k per annum, and I as a PAYE employee paying tax at 40%, decide to contribute to the cost of the nursing home. My understanding is that I then make a claim at the end of the year for the tax relief on my contributions.

So let's say for example, I decide to use my income/savings etc to pay year 1 of the nursing home myself, i.e. 50k, at the end of the year when I make a claim will I get back 50k*40% = 20k?

Is it that simple or do I need to consider, how much tax in my job that I pay at the higher tax band?

If my salary is less than 50k per year, can I still claim the full tax relief?

If my wife decides that she wants to contribute, does it matter how exactly they pay the contribution, i.e. could she transfer the money to the account that will be used to pay the nursing home from?

Will revenue ask for a breakdown of what monies where used to pay the nursing home?

There will be 4 sources

1. Parents savings/pension
2. My contributions
3. My wife's contributions
4. Small contribution from 3rd party

For 1-3 i will have no problem providing bank accounts, showing money coming from savings/income/parents account and be transferred to the nursing home account. If this account only had my name on it, would revenue accept it as proof for my wife to claim the tax relief?

If my wife is working PT and so only pays a small % of her salary at the higher rate (linking back to question above, could she claim the full 40% tax relief, if she can only claim say 20%, is there anything stopping her savings being my savings, and me using it to pay the nursing home and claiming the 40% tax?

Finally i have a relative that is moving to Cork and asked me if i would give them a room, I've agreed and it is at a price well below market rent. As she will be mainly covering her bills, I wasn't going to declare this amount, indeed was going to use this to offset some of the nursing home. I then got the bright idea, that as she is paying me, could i then use these monies to claim tax relief?

I suppose my question mainly comes down to - will revenue want to see back up on my main account to show where the funds are coming from, or will they care, if i can prove that i earn xk a month? In theory my take home pay would be higher than 2+3+4 above, but in practice it wouldn't be all my salary going in, or would it be better if i arrange that it was and worked out the practicalities of the other payments separately.

Should for instance i get my relative to pay me in cash instead of transferring monies to my bank account?

Should i be putting my wife's name of this new nursing home account?

I am going to an financial adviser on the issues of the nursing home and in particular fair deal, - but i want to somehow get my head around dos and don't before then.