Taxation of rental income - would appreciate any advice.

[taxignoramus]

I have a 2 bedroom apartment in Dublin since 2002. I was living there up to about 1 year ago. I subsequently moved to Cork for what I thought would be a year, and had friends of mine living there for 900E/month [significantly less than potential rent] while I was away. I was paying maintenance costs and mortgage [and getting mortgage relief directly from work]. My tenant has applied for rental relief.

I have since been told that I am going to be out of Dublin until next July. The tenants have changed. A different friend is staying there with his girlfriend - the rent has just increased to 1050/month [slightly less than potential rent].

I have not filed a return, as my normal tax is PAYE, and I am pretty ignorant of all that stuff.

Am I liable for a large tax bill on the rental income? What ballpark figure are we talking about. Do I need to get an accountant to advise regarding same?

Would appreciate any advice.

 

[Howitzer]

Am I liable for a large tax bill on the rental income? What ballpark figure are we talking about. Do I need to get an accountant to advise regarding same?

Would appreciate any advice.

You may a very significent tax liability and you should grab a good accountant asap. You don't give much details of the apt so only guesstimating but you may a have very large stamp duty clawback bill (>10K). Your income may be offsetable against interest but you definately need an accountant to sort that out as you shouldn't have been claiming mortgage interest relief at source.

PRTB registered?

 

[asdfg]

Anything [broken link removed].
You have to pay a clawback in respect of stamp duty from the date the property is first let. You will also be caught for interest and penalties.

From revenue website

Clawback

A clawback arises if rent is obtained from the letting of the house or apartment for a period of 5 years from the date of the conveyance or transfer, other than under the rent-a-room scheme. The clawback amounts to the difference between the higher stamp duty rates and the duty paid and it becomes payable on the date that rent is first received from the property. A clawback will not arise where the property is sold to an unrelated third party during the 5-year period.

With the deductions that are allowed against rental income the main one being interest and writing off furniture / fittings etc your liability may not be to high.
If you are showing a rental loss you can carry forward the loss and offset against future gains