Rent Relief

C

Clom

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Hi All

I am in full-time employment and have been for the last 4 years. I have been paying rent to my parents while living at home during that time. Am I entitled to claim rent relief for that period?
 
Thanks Clubman appreciate the help. I think I'll be filling out that return!!
 
Clom said:
Thanks Clubman appreciate the help. I think I'll be filling out that return!!
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You can fill out the form, and probably get the relief..... but Revenue could decide to get it back from you.

Check out this post for further details.

Revenue said:
In the case of payments made by children in respect of the family home it is Revenue’s view that, in general, such payments are not rent within the meaning of section 473.
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The use of "in general" may provide you some room to query it, but it's not as cut and dry as Revenue staff led others to believe on other threads.
 
The Financial Problems Answering Guy on Newstalk gave his view on this exact scenario last week and he would have agreed with Satanta, that this does not constitute rent and so the rent relief would not be applicible.
 
I don't see why it shouldn't be classified as rent but that doesn't mean it is. If, for example, my daughter and her boyfriend take over the top floor of my house and pay rent, they are not entitled to rent relief. But if she takes over next door's top floor, they are. It's crazy.
 
Fully agree with liteweight. I've given more than one post in the larger thread on this issue saying logically it'd be crazy to rule out rent relief where rent was being paid!

The biggest problem I see with it is the "in general"! It's hard enough to get hard facts from Revenue, now if they review cases on an individual basis who do you have to go to for an answer and what do you need to prove this in the future?
 
For what it's worth [broken link removed] does not ask applicants to specify their relationship with their landlord.
 
ClubMan said:
For what it's worth [broken link removed] does not ask applicants to specify their relationship with their landlord.
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There seems to be absolutly no problem in getting the tax credit issued, it's just a matter of is it legitimate or not?
(similiar to Flat rate expenses, I had no questions asked in claiming it, but should I not have been eligible just because I recieve it doesn't make it right)

It's tough for people to be responsible for ensuring tax compliance when the details (and Revenue themselves) seem to be contradictory. Especially as, IMHO, this one should be allowed, from a logicial point of view.
 
True - I agree that the onus is on the individual to make sure that they are only claiming credits/allowances/reliefs to which they are actually entitled. I did not mean to suggest that claiming and getting it and ignoring any potential flies in the ointment was an acceptable strategy! Never mind fraud/evasion. I also agree that in many cases the Revenue rules on such matters could be clearer/simpler.
 
I posted this on another thread but it applies to this thread also in relation to rent paid to parents.

Revenue stance on this a few years back was that rent paid to parents was not considered rent as pointed out in TB. Their stance now is that it is acceptable as it qualifies under rent a room scheme but the parent must claim the exemption to this Case V income by completing a tax return. Althought this is their present stance they have not issued any statement of practice or detailed this on any TB yet but watch this space as I dare say it will be detailed on a TB shortly.
 
Revenue reveiwing their position on this and are considering reverting to the old view of it not being rent. I have heard that one tax office has stopped such claims where they have identified the rent as being paid to parents. Hopefully they will issue a statement of practice to clairfy their position soon.
 
jfitzer said:
Revenue reveiwing their position on this and are considering reverting to the old view of it not being rent. I have heard that one tax office has stopped such claims where they have identified the rent as being paid to parents. Hopefully they will issue a statement of practice to clairfy their position soon.
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Surely this is unconstitutional? How can rent paid to a stranger be more valid than that paid to a parent. On the other thread lots of young people rang Revenue with regard to this and were told they could claim. Are you saying they'll look for it back? Just wait until those politicians start knocking on my door!! I usually hide but this time I'll be inviting them in because my list of complaints is getting so long!!!!
 
I rang about this and was told I could claim.
I rang them back today and was told my money would be in my account at the start of next week.
 
Is it still possible to claim rent relief for previous years if the address that was registered with the revenue was different to the address that I wish to claim for? ie. my 'home' address was on all revenue paperwork/records - but when I started my current job, I used rented accomodation during the week.
 
Lightweight I agree somewhat in what you say and did discuss this with my friends husband who told me and I did sort of see his point as the rev did make a statement saying this rent was not considered rent in the past and have made no statement to the contrary. Be interesting to see if anyone who got this has confirmation in writing from the rev to say this is allowed. Regardless they will have to make some sort of statement. If they do change it I cannot really see them doing it retrospectively. Wonder how they spotted the cases they pulled, I can only assume it was from surnames.
 
serotoninsid said:
Is it still possible to claim rent relief for previous years if the address that was registered with the revenue was different to the address that I wish to claim for? ie. my 'home' address was on all revenue paperwork/records - but when I started my current job, I used rented accomodation during the week.
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Yes this is fine. Just write a quick note to this effect when submitting your claim. Let them know you wish to keep your postal address separate to your rented address for their future reference. By default your rented address becomes your postal address in Revenue's records. This is because where you live determines what your local tax district/office is. You can claim you rent credit as far back as 2002, but not before this.
 
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