Overseas Property Tax Obligations

With Revenue's recent announcement that they are to begin targeting the overseas property market how likely are they to come after the regular Jow who owns a property aborad?

From what I have read Revenue's objective is twofold: 1) to seek verification that the funds used to finance the property were used from taxable income i.e. that the funds used can be verified as having come from declared income and 2) that income received from the overseas proeprty is being declared here in Ireland.

I recently received a letter from Revenue requesting additional information regarding a property I own in France which they were infomred about through interest that accrued from my French bank account!

It would appear that as times are getting tough Revenue are beginning to look at new markets to get their income fix from the loss of tax euros from the construction industry!

Creditlimit said:

It would appear that as times are getting tough Revenue are beginning to look at new markets to get their income fix from the loss of tax euros from the construction industry!

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In fairness, Revenue have been flagging this issue in various ways for a number of years now, including well before the downturn in the domestic construction sector.

Agreed but it was only in recent times that the seriousness of this has come to light with SHOK taking Revenue to court to protect themselves from civil legal actions from their clients were Revenue's attempt to retreive all their client info materialise.
In the end the case was settled out of court but the foudnations were laid and new powers are/ have been granted which allows Revenue to get information held by Estate agents on anyone of their clients who purchased property abroad.

The EU Savings Directive is the new issue here as this infomration was not previously held by revenue.

it was a result of the above directive that I received a letter from Revenue so now I have to sort my taxes in France which I'm currently doing and to give the taxman his cut after I try to write-off as much as I can overseas first!

now I have to sort my taxes in France which I'm currently doing and to give the taxman his cut after I try to write-off as much as I can overseas first!

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You also have to make a return to Revenue in Ireland as though the property was based in Ireland, using irish rules. You can then offset any tax paid abroad and pay the balance to Irish Revenue

See the [broken link removed]and [broken link removed]

Where French income is received a return must be filed with Revenue but it also has to be filed with the French tax office. If I only declare income with Revenue I am not tax compliant with the French tax office and run the risk of penalties being imposed.

I am using an Irish company: www.ptireturns.com to look after the French return and they told me that it's in my interest to file the French tax return first, making full use of all the necessary deductions and costs as the two tax systems are very different.

I wanted to become tax compliant not just to Revenue but also to the French tax office for fear that I get landed with a hefty bill in later years!

Creditlimit,

How much do PTIreturns.com charge to look after your tax affairs ?
Is this cost tax deductable or is it classified as an expense??
Are PTIreturns easy to deal with ?

Hi Red,

PTI charged me €595 which included an income tax return and a vat return and the costs were allowed as deduction against my income.

To date I have found them very easy to deal, professional and they explain what I need to know in simple terms. I had heard stories about friends using French accountants and having serious language problems which was not something I wanted to deal with giving the amount of paperwork that unfortunately comes with a leaseback proeprty.

Does that cost cover you for both Ireland & France or will it be another €595 to sort out your irish tax returns ??

Ive used ptireturns for filing taxes for property. It only cost €350 but I think it depends on what country you are filing for. Happy to have it taken care of

The €595 covers the French side of things as I have my own accountant who looks after the Irish side of things.

If you have a French proeprty yourself you will know the amount of information and documentation that comes with it so knowing that I do not have to go through each form to find out what they require is an added bonus.

I rang them to see what they would do my Irish return for and they said it would start at €350 so may go with them for this year too!

Hi there,

Just to let you know i have used another irish based firm for filing my French returns and they only charged me €498 for my returns there.

The company is www.foreigntaxreturns.ie and i found them very helpfull to deal with.

Molly

Hey,

My own situation was with two properties, US and French, bought them back in 06, and to be honest didn't think too much about the tax situation at the time.
I gave that company PTI a call and the the original quote I got did seem like a lot, but I talked things over with them and agreed on a bill of €1,200, still seemed a lot at the time, but that sorted out 2006 and 2007 in France and the US, so that worked out as €300 for each return, so I felt I did OK.

I'm going to give the Irish returns a go myself but if I get too confused I may get that looked after as well.

Suz