UK resident claiming mortgage tax relief

Hi

Was stopped by VRT Car customs today asking questions about my northern reg car. I explained that i live in north but have a holiday home in the republic.
he didnt believe me as my car is quite regularly in this area.he asked if i got mortgage tax relief.i wasnt sure and he said he could find out. he said u can only get it if ur resident in the republic. i've just checked myself and i do get the relief and i mustn't be eligible. what will now happen whe he checks out and finds i've been getting this when as far as he's concerned, i shouldn't be.

will i get a lump sum bill to pay of the total i got ?
will i get a fine also ?

is this serious ?
how did i get this - i used my wifes PRSI no. as she used to live in republic and i used my national insurance no. for myself ???

any advice appreciated.

bkm said:

he said u can only get it if ur resident in the republic. i've just checked myself and i do get the relief and i mustn't be eligible.

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Owner occupier mortgage interest tax relief is only available to owner occupiers.

what will now happen whe he checks out and finds i've been getting this when as far as he's concerned, i shouldn't be.

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If you are claiming this then you need to stop and deal with any relief that you have incorrectly claimed to date.

is this serious ?

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Yes. You need to sort it out ASAP.

how did i get this - i used my wifes PRSI no.

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For what? Did you deliberately claim the relief when you knew that you were not entitled to it?

I filled in the form not knowing whether i was entitled to it.I got the relief so i assumed it was ok and forgot about it. It was for a holiday home and i filled the form in correctly using my wifes pps no. and my national insurance no. i've just read the form and it has a declaration on itstating it has to be our main residence. It is our main residence in the south but i see now where i've messed up. It says there are heavy penalties for false declarations. i've been getting this relief for 18 months and starting to s**t myself about any fine. does anyone know how these penalties are worked out - it was a genuine mess up and i wudn't have known about it if wasn't stopped today .

bkm said:

It says there are heavy penalties for false declarations. i've been getting this relief for 18 months and starting to s**t myself about any fine. does anyone know how these penalties are worked out - it was a genuine mess up and i wudn't have known about it if wasn't stopped today .

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The maximum relief would be €133.33 p.m. for a couple of first time buyers. For non first time buyers the maximum would be €84.66 p.m. This means that the amount of relief mistakenly claimed would be a maximum of €2,400 or €1,534 and this gives you an idea of the limit of your liability to Revenue excluding interest and penalties which may not be an issue or may be waived if you come clean and approach them - preferably after obtaining independent professional advice from an accountant or tax advisor. You should sort this out sooner rather than later to avoid storing up problems for the future.