# If we get married will we be better off?



## Henry33 (12 Nov 2007)

I am co-habiting with my partner we have 1 child (4yrs) we bought our house 2 years ago (317k) and have a mortgage of 270k (approx. 1,300 pm). I am the main wage earner (50-55k). Partner is a painter (earns approx. 12k). Financially it’s a constant struggle, so romanticism aside, I’m wondering what difference getting married would make to my current monthly take home pay (approx. 3,100)?

All info and advice much appreciated.


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## Nige (12 Nov 2007)

Yes, you will get an additional €9,000 at the standard rate (based on the 2007 tax bands), which will save you €1,890 in tax over the year.


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## Henry33 (12 Nov 2007)

Thanks Nige, 

Does that mean we would only benefit from an extra €1,890 per annum?

It doesn't seem a lot spread out over 12 months (€157.5 extra a month), or am I getting this all wrong?


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## Nige (12 Nov 2007)

No, that's it.


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## Henry33 (12 Nov 2007)

Wow, I though it would be a bit more advantageous with combining tax free allowances etc. 

I guess it would take a while to recover the costs of a wedding then ;-)


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## ClubMan (12 Nov 2007)

Henry33 said:


> Partner is a painter (earns approx. 12k).


You mean painter and decorator - or an artist in which case s/he should presumably be entitled to the [broken link removed]?


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## Henry33 (12 Nov 2007)

An Artist unfortunatly  she does have Artist's Exemption but the annual earnings are below the taxable level anyway (as far as i know) which is why we thought that by combining both tax credits we'd be better off, but not that much better off it appears...


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## SidTheDweeb (12 Nov 2007)

that's mad ... you actually have a decent set of wages, a modest mortgage, and one child and it's that tight!

What salary do people need to earn these days to get by?


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## ClubMan (12 Nov 2007)

I guess some people need more than they are earning because they simply live beyond their means.


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## pc7 (13 Nov 2007)

if the financial side doesn't work for you for marrying, perhaps the legalities and security it provides especially with a kiddie could be worth doing.  Things like widows pension (god forbid something happens one of you) etc. Don't mean to be morbid just there are more reliefs and assistance for couples if they are married and something happens one of them.


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## Henry33 (13 Nov 2007)

ClubMan said:


> I guess some people need more than they are earning because they simply live beyond their means.



Hold on a sec- We don't live past our means, we just feel we should be able to have more expenditure on current earnings allowing us to save etc. It’s easy to make a generalisation like that but honestly it’s not that helpful or relevant.


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## ClubMan (13 Nov 2007)

I wasn't referring specifically to you but on the other hand if you do find the finances "a constant struggle" on a net houshold income of c. €50K to the extent that you are looking at marriage as a way of easing the burden, then maybe some remedial action (increasing your earning capacity or economising/budgeting better) might be necessary.


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## Henry33 (13 Nov 2007)

Both options would offer some assistance for sure, however I thought that the tax incentives would have been more favorable, is there any difference if there is only one wage earner? (apologies if I am asking the same question again)


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## ClubMan (13 Nov 2007)

You can estimate the effect of marriage on the single and joint income situation using www.taxcalc.eu - however it may not account for the tax free status of our artist partner.


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## Henry33 (13 Nov 2007)

Thanks for your help.


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## Mel (13 Nov 2007)

Is your wife earning her money through sales of her work? 
If so, could she increase her sales? There is a lot of good info here, but apologies if she is doing a lot of this already. 
http://www.artbusiness.com/artists.html

Sales of art are not great at the moment though, so if she has spare time could she take on teaching an evening class in the local secondary school, or doing portraits? especially coming up to christmas, people love charcoal sketches from photos as gifts, and they can be done quickly, cheap and cheerful.


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## HappyBudda (13 Nov 2007)

Only thing is that any basic photo-editing package can give you charcoal, oil, water colour versions of your photos.  thats what artists are up against i suppose


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## Mel (13 Nov 2007)

That's true, but some people do get these done as one-off special gifts. It might be worth putting an ad somewhere. 
Someone I was talking to recently who has been in ceramics for years said that it's after getting really hard to make a living from art because so many people are doing different arty-crafty things compared to a few years ago.


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## michaelm (14 Nov 2007)

Henry33 said:


> An Artist unfortunatly  she does have Artist's Exemption but the annual earnings are below the taxable level anyway (as far as i know) which is why we thought that by combining both tax credits we'd be better off, but not that much better off it appears...


I reckon you would be better off by €3650/year currently.  That's 21% of €9000 (€1890) plus your wifes Personal Tax Credit of €1760, which is transferable and which I don't think your wife currently gets the benefit of, obviously you'd need to check this.


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## Glenbhoy (22 Nov 2007)

michaelm said:


> I reckon you would be better off by €3650/year currently. That's 21% of €9000 (€1890) plus your wifes Personal Tax Credit of €1760, which is transferable and which I don't think your wife currently gets the benefit of, obviously you'd need to check this.


Yeah, that seems correct to me.
You also have a range of other tax benefits - although they only kick in if one or other of you were to die (sounds morbid, but it's something that must be considered, as the advantages are huge).  There may also be issues with your pension (if applicable) if you were to pre-decease your partner, i.e benefits may be payable to a spouse, but not to a co-habitee etc.
One other thing worth looking into is to ensure that you're both availing of the maximum TRS relief, you probably are, but it does no harm to check out as this may well be increased again in this budget.


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## Henry33 (23 Nov 2007)

Thanks, how do I check what my TRS relief is?


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## ClubMan (23 Nov 2007)

Check your mortgage statement?


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