Skip to main content

New Clampdown On Landlords...

Revenue targets landlords in rental income crackdown...

TAX officials are making door-to-door checks in estates across the country to see if landlords are paying all their taxes.

Revenue officials are focusing on estates where there is known to be a high level of rented properties in the new clampdown on landlords.

They are probing landlords who have buy-to-lets to see if they are making the correct tax claims on their rental returns and to see if they are registered with the State as landlords.

It is part of an overall investigation by Revenue Commissioner officials into the black economy, the Irish Independent understands.

There are fears that many buy-to-let landlords do not register with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), accept cash in rent and do not make tax returns.

It recently emerged that the State paid more than €250m last year to thousands of unregistered landlords.

Half of the landlords who get rent supplement payments -- which can be as high as €1,100 a month -- from the Department of Social Protection do not have their properties registered with PRTB, despite being legally obliged to do so.

Tax officials are also checking that the money used to buy the rental property has had the tax paid on it.

Cross-checks

Cross-checks are being made by looking at claims for rent relief from tenants, PRTB registrations, information on rent subsidies from the Health Service Authority and the Department of Social Protection.

Officials are also using data from local authorities on who has paid the second-homes tax.

Anyone who is found to have tax issues is then audited by the Revenue officials, a spokesman said.

"As part of its 2011 shadow-economy project, Revenue is additionally undertaking door-to-door checks of estates where there is a known high proportion of rented properties.

"Information obtained will be assessed in conjunction with other data at Revenue's disposal," the spokesman added.

Also part of the checks being done by tax officials is a probe of the 75pc mortgage interest restriction for residential landlords.

This was introduced in the 2009 emergency Budget.

Previously, landlords had been able to claim 100pc relief on the mortgage interest they paid on the loans for their properties.

The Revenue is determined to improve tax compliance as returns for the Exchequer have plunged. Income tax, the largest source of revenue, is now way off boom-year highs.

Earlier this year it emerged that Revenue officials were making unannounced visits to pharmacies, dentists, schools and charities in a fresh clampdown on potential tax evasion involving employees not properly registered for tax.

The Revenue is doing audits to establish whether all the people working there are categorised correctly for tax purposes.

Report by Charlie Weston - Irish Independent

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu

I fear a very different kind of property crash

While 80% of people over 40 own their own home just a third of adults under 40 do. This is disastrous for social solidarity and cohesion Changing this system of policymaking requires a government to act in a way that may be uncomfortable for some. Governments have a horizon of no more than five years, and the housing issue requires long-term planning. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was intended to tackle some of these problems. According to its website its remit is to “drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland by enhancing governance, building capacity and delivering effectively”. So how is the challenge of delivering homes for people in 2024 and beyond going to be met? The extent of the problem is visible in the move by companies, including Ryanair, to buy properties to house staff. Ryanair has, justifiably, defended its right to do so. IPAV has long articulated its views on how to improve supply an

Property Tycoon's Dolce Vita Ends...

Tycoon's dolce vita ends as art seized... THE Dublin city sheriff has seized an art collection and other valuables from the Ailesbury Road home of fallen property developer Bernard McNamara. The collection will be sold to help pay his debts. The sheriff, Brendan Walsh, is believed to have moved against the property developer within the past fortnight, calling to his salubrious Dublin 4 home acting on a court order to seize anything of value from his home to reimburse his creditors. The sheriff is believed to have taken paintings from the family home along with a small number of other items. The development marks a new low for Mr McNamara, once one of Ireland's richest men but who now owes €1.5bn . The property developer and former county councillor from Clare turned the building firm founded by his father Michael into one of the biggest in Ireland. He is the highest-profile former tycoon to date to be targeted by bailiffs, signalling just how far some of Ireland's billionai