French civil union recognised by Revenue?

W

wildgoose

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Is a French civil union (a civil marriage contract with no church involvement - Pacte civil de solidarité" (PACS)) recognised by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of things like income tax or inheritance?
 
I would certainly expect so. After all the state only recognises the civil/legal aspects of all domestic marriages and cares not one whit about the religious side (if any) of such a union.
 
AFAIK, a PACS is not the same as a civil marriage. I have heard it described as a civil union, but not marriage. Cohabiting couples often use it to give them the benefits of marriage (from tax point of view etc) without actually getting married.

You should check with the Revenue, or Registry of Marriages in Ireland.
 
I was hoping if it was good enough for the French tax authorities, it would be good enough for the Irish.

Is there a Web form or email address for such questoins on the revenue.ie Web site? I looked at it but could not find anything.
 
I can tell you for certain sure that it is not. The PACS is open to people in all sorts of situations - it's not as simple as being another form of marriage / civil union. Friends can sign up - there's no conjugal connotation - so no, it won't be recognised by revenue.

Civil partnerships and same sex marriages contracted abroad are also not recognised by Revenue (cf. Gilligan and Zappone case, currently on appeal to the Supreme Court).
 
My original comments were based on the content of the original post which claimed that this thing was a civil marriage of a man and woman. If it is not and is, in fact, some other sort of civil union/contract then I would agree that Revenue will not accept it as proof of marriage.
 
Sorry - I should have been clearer. The PACS is between a man/woman in a traditional family unit with children.

The reasoning for the Revenue recognising the PACS is that the PACS couple is recognised by the French tax authorities as a variation of the traditional contract.
 
Wildgoose,
While your situation is very close to the traditional understanding of a marriage, AFAIK the union you have chosen (PACS) is a type of civil partnership, and not a civil marriage. Dreamerb rightly points out that friends and same-sex couples etc can sign up for this, which means that this form of union is not officially recognized in Ireland.
The easiest way to find out is to call the Revenue office for your area to confirm.
Please let us know how you get on.

JR
 
wildgoose said:
Sorry - I should have been clearer. The PACS is between a man/woman in a traditional family unit with children.

The reasoning for the Revenue recognising the PACS is that the PACS couple is recognised by the French tax authorities as a variation of the traditional contract.
Click to expand...

The details of who the particular PACS is between isn't relevant - it's the nature of the contract that is considered in making the assessment decision. And a PACS isn't recognised in Irish law as a marriage equivalent because of the breadth of its scope, nor are there any plans to so recognise it as we don't have equivalent legislation.

And we don't have tax harmonisation, so the fact that the French accept it won't influence Revenue.
 
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