Could Fathers previous Tax Liability come back to haunt estate

C

colinb

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Hi Folks

As the title suggest my fathers business went under about 4 years ago and he owed Revenue circa €20k in unpaid VAT/PRSI. It went to the sheriff for collection but they deemed it un-collectable due to my father having no income and no Rembrandts or Ferraris etc. There has been no communications from Revenue since so they have obviously put it on the back burner. Now AFAIK Revenue cant write a debt like this off. so what concerns me is can they take it out of my Parents estate (family home value c€90k) my father is joint owner though my mother has been the only contributor to the Mortgage.

Both my parents are still living however I am concerned that at the time of my fathers death we will be hit with a tax demand.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated
 
@colinb - can you establish whether your parents own the house on 'joint tenancy' or 'tenants in common'? Joint tenancy is usual for PPR and this means 'survivor takes all' and it would not be part of your fathers estate.
 
The property is owned as joint tenancy! Thanks for your reply WizardDr very helpful.
 
Was your father's business a limited company or a sole trader ??
 
@colinb Was the purchase made years before any of this arose?
Have the Revenue sought a judgment since or whats the story?
 
Yes house was purchased around 10 yrs previous, there has been no communication to or from Revenue since the sheriff backed off, they have not sought a judgement or anything, if they did seek a judgement on the house though I would imagine (open to correction) that we would have a good case as the house was in no way funded from the activity of my father or his business?!

My main concern is not knowing what revenues next move is, I don't think they will have written the debt off and we don't want to contact them, if we did it would set off alarm bells and they'd start the ball rolling again, but would they leave it dormant until my fathers death and then hit us with a demand?
 
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