Can I use personal bank account for business purposes?

U

UFC

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Hello

I would appreciate some advice on this.

I am Irish, but I am tax resident in Indonesia.
My company (online business) is in Belize.
My customers are primarily in Ireland.

Can I use my personal bank account in Ireland to receive payments from customers?
If so, is there a tax liability?

The reason I want to do this is it is much easier for the customers rather than sending money to my business bank account in the Caribbean. I prefer to receive the money in the Irish personal bank account and then manually transfer it to my business account in the Caribbean.

Cheers.
 
I can't see how there would be a tax liability but you would need to check the fees charged for your personal account, they may be higher for these kind of transactions. It may also ring alarms bills within the bank from a fraud/money laundering perspective since the transactions would not be the normal type for this kind of bank account
 
You need to contact an accountant to establish your potential tax position re these transactions. If you are operating a business on behalf of a company no funds should be put through your personal account. What you are proposing is irregular and could open you up to all sorts of enquiries and potential liability!
 
Flows in and out of an Irish bank account will not, of itself, create a taxable presence. In order to create a taxable presence you would either need to be tax resident, or ordinarily resident, in Ireland or have a permanent establishment (a taxable presence) in Ireland. My concern, as has been mentioned above, is that the money flows would attract Revenue attention as they are slightly unusual. The amount of information that is exchanged between tax authorities is now very significant and with the advent of big data this will probably increase. This may well raise Revenue queries as Ireland has concluded a significant number of TIES with Caribbean companies under which such information is exchanged.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Regarding attracting Revenues attention, a few of you have said that in an ominous tone, but if I'm not tax resident in Ireland it's fine right? It just means I'd have a conversation with them (maybe provide proof of my residency or something like that) and that'd be in the end of it...? Or am I missing something?

Cheers
 
UFC said:
Thanks for the replies.

Regarding attracting Revenues attention, a few of you have said that in an ominous tone, but if I'm not tax resident in Ireland it's fine right? It just means I'd have a conversation with them (maybe provide proof of my residency or something like that) and that'd be in the end of it...? Or am I missing something?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Business tax residency is rarely that simple, especially if VAT is a potential issue. Caveat emptor.
 
Vat is a good point from T McGibney. If you have no tax issues then you have nothing to hide from coming on Revenue's radar. I've known people who are employed and tax resident in the Middle East and have a bank account in Jersey (or a similar location) which is 100% in order. A letter from the Revenue arrives in and is answered - no Irish tax presence and the query is closed.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

Just so I'm clear, I'd only have a VAT issue if I was 1) charging Irish businesses VAT and/or 2) keeping the VAT for myself, right?
 
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