Rent a room scheme: do we retain PPR status while travelling abroad for x months?

Hi there,
We live in an apartment but have taken what will be a five month holiday abroad for the year 2007. We've rented out our place but it is still our main residence. Would we qualify for the rent a room scheme? We'll have spent 7 months in it in 2007.
Thanks in advance

Re: Rent a room scheme

This question has been asked a few times but I've never seen an authoritative generalised answer - i.e. do we retain PPR status while travelling abroad for x months. You might need to get independent, professional advice on whether or not your PPR status can be retained in this case.

Bear in mind that there may be other implications of vacating your home for such a period - e.g. you may need alternative insurance cover, your lender may need to be informed etc.

Re: Rent a room scheme

How many rooms in your apartment? If you are renting out your only bedroom then you wouldn't qualify

Re: Rent a room scheme

Hi there,
Thanks for the replies so far. We have two bedrooms.

Re: Rent a room scheme

if you were on a five month holiday then you would still be irish resident for the year which would imply the apartment remains your PPR. However, if you rented your own bedroom out it's not likely you could qualify for the rent a room scheme. You should seek professional advice before approaching the tax office on this matter. It would seem to me to be very extreme for the revenue to rule that your rented out apartment was now an investment property and to raise the issue of stamp duty clawback etc., but it is something you should be aware of.

Re: Rent a room scheme

Thanks for the reply webtax. We've rented out the apartment to two people and there are two bedrooms so I dunno, it seems unlikely that we'd qualify as it is obvious we are not there for those few months(how could we say we didn't rent the whole place out?). It still is our PPR though. Hmmm, I'm inclined to think we can't make use of the rent a room scheme. It'd be great if we could though

Re: Rent a room scheme

webtax said:

How many rooms in your apartment? If you are renting out your only bedroom then you wouldn't qualify

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This is an interesting point.

I have a one bed apartment and will be sent to Spain with work in the New Year.

Therefore my one bed will still be my PPR.

Obviously, I want to rent it out while I'm away, so in order to avoid tax I was going to rent it out under the rent a room scheme.

Surely this is possible. The revenue do not know how many bedrooms each apartment in the country has. I have a sofa bed in the living room so that could also be classed as a bedroom.

I bought my place about 3 years ago so I'm worried about stamp duty claw-back.

The only other option would be to rent it out on the sly. Not too happy doing that.

All things considered do you think I'm able to rent it out under the rent a room scheme?

Re: Rent a room scheme

colsku said:

The revenue do not know how many bedrooms each apartment in the country has.

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But you do and to say otherwise on a tax return would be fraud. Remember, if you rent out your apartment as an investment property within 5 years of purchasing you will be liable to a stamp duty clawback. And renting 'on the sly' won't help as your tenant will be claiming the rent credit for the time he is there, which will identify you to revenue.
Your only options would be to continue paying the mortgage yourself or take a repayment holiday with your bank.

Quote:
Originally Posted by colsku http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?p=532714#post532714
The revenue do not know how many bedrooms each apartment in the country has.


But you do and to say otherwise on a tax return would be fraud. Remember, if you rent out your apartment as an investment property within 5 years of purchasing you will be liable to a stamp duty clawback. And renting 'on the sly' won't help as your tenant will be claiming the rent credit for the time he is there, which will identify you to revenue.
Your only options would be to continue paying the mortgage yourself or take a repayment holiday with your bank.

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Dont be so sure - there's a lot of info on databases nowdays. Revenue collect stamp duty, so have the details of all property purchases.

Obviously, I want to rent it out while I'm away, so in order to avoid tax I was going to rent it out under the rent a room scheme.

I bought my place about 3 years ago so I'm worried about stamp duty claw-back.

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Under the new rules introduced in the budget regarding clawback you should be OK here.

You should declare the rental income but remember there are a number of deductions you can make including interest on the mortgage repayments.

You will have to cancel your TRS while you are away.

AFAIA you will have to register with PRTB in order to claim interest on the mortgage even for the short period of a few months.