Irish Landords Accused Of Dodging Tax

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

09 June 2003

According to the Irish tenants rights group, Threshold, four-fifths of landlords in Ireland are not registered with the appropriate authorities for tax purposes.

This news comes as the Irish government announced its decision to create a Private Residential Tenancies Board which will require landlords to register all their tenancies. Irish opposition spokesman for the environment, Bernard Allen has demanded that the government use the register as a basis for taxing landlords. However, government Environment Minister, Martin Cullen has said that the register will not be passed on to the Revenue Commissioners to use as a taxpayers' database, nor will information on the proposed register be open to public scrutiny, as it falls outside the remit of the Freedom of Information Act, and is protected by Data Protection laws.

A spokesman for Mr Cullen denied accusations by Fine Gael that the government is operating a 'tax amnesty' for landlords by not adequately enforcing the tax rules. "The job of the board is to manage the rented market on a day-to-day basis. It is not to act as a tax master," the spokesman told the Irish Examiner.

The Revenue Commission has attempted to allay the tenants group's concerns by denying that they are slow to investigate tax abuses by landlords, and explaining that they "pay particular attention" to this area.

The Irish Property Owners Association, meanwhile has criticised the government's proposals, arguing that they will dramatically increase the amount of red tape for landlords with substantial portfolios.

According to the IPOA, there are 42,000 landlords registered with the Revenue Commission, along with 100,000 tenants claiming rent relief.

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