# Money Transfer in Europe - Tax implication?



## Chris (10 Dec 2004)

I am french, resident in Ireland for the last 10 years. I work in Ireland and pay tax in Ireland. I have rental income in France and pay tax in France on it. This french taxed rental income is regularly lodged  onto a french saving account. I would like   to transfer €30k from this french account to my irish bank account in order to repay my mortgage, and wonder
about if there is any tax implication? form to fill? declaration to make? associated with such the transfer .
Many thanks in advance


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## Capall (13 Dec 2004)

As a non domiciled irish resident person you are liable to irish income tax on foreign income when you remit it into ireland.

If you had capital or income which arose before you became resident in ireland you could remit it without any tax consequences. 

It mightn't be the most tax efficient course of action to remit income into ireland to pay off a mortgage.


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## Chris (13 Dec 2004)

Thansk for that. 
I came across a document from Revenue about "Double Taxation Relief" : to avoid double taxation of income & gain when a resident of one country (i.e. Ireland) has taxable income arising in the other coutry (i.e. France)".

Does that not apply to my case?

If it is not, what would be the most tax efficient course of action to remit income into ireland to pay off an irish mortgage?


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## Capall (15 Dec 2004)

The aim of double taxation agreements is to avoid income being taxed twice ,normally they work by either exempting 
the income from tax in one of the countries or by giving a credit for tax paid in another country.
In the case of an irish domiciled resident person with french income they could offset the french income tax paid against any irish liability on the same income in the same year.

Your scenario is more complicated as the French income tax 
you paid would have arisen over several years but you should
be able to relate income to tax paid.
If you are already paying tax at 42% than the 30000 euro you want to remit is also taxable at 42%. If the french rate is less than you have more tax to pay.

If you have capital in france or income that you earned prior to coming to ireland that can be remitted without any irish tax liability. But you would need to be able to identify these    
funds separately to income earned since then.

You should ring the revenue and talk to someone who deals with DTTs.


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## Chris (16 Dec 2004)

Capall, thanks for the info,
I have got some feedback from French revenue on the matter, refering to Franco-irish agreement. In a nutshell:
 - Incomes from properties (rent or sale) : tax paid in France.
 - Incomes from other sources (i.e. stock, salary): tax paid in country of residence.

I have also received a donation/gift from my parents (french resident in France) of €40k. Donation has been registered with french tax office and tax has been paid in France.
I would also like to transfer this money out of my account in France into my irish account to pay 
of mortgage. Is there any tax liability in this case?
The french tax office mentioned to me that the franco-irish tax agrement does not mention anything about inheritance/gift, so they have no clue.


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## Capall (16 Dec 2004)

If you pay off the mortgage from money received as a gift 
then this is not a remittance of income or of a capital gain.
It is a gift also under irish tax law . As it is from your parents 
it is well within your exempt threshold for Capital Acquisitions Tax and therefore there would be no CAT and no other irish taxes due.
I am not familar with the irish/france treaty in particular but most of the treaties follow a recomended OECD model.
For rental income both countries retain the right to tax.
If France is taxing the rental income then ireland still retain the right to tax so be careful about remitting money from this source.
Generally interest is the only income in the treaties which is taxable in the country of residence only.


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## extopia (20 Dec 2004)

Is it really the case that tax is only payable if money is "imported" into Ireland? If Chris has a tax liability on this "foreign" income (e.g.. the rental income in France) surely it is payable here whether the income is brought into Ireland or not? Isn't it the case that as an Irish resident he is treated the same as an Irish person for tax purposes?


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## Capall (20 Dec 2004)

The remittance basis for taxation of Non Irish and UK income and capital gains
applies to Non Domiciled Irish residents.
This remittance basis also applies to income for Resident Non 
ordinary resident irish domiciles but not to capital gains


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