Selling house

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seller432

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I have a house up on sale for 380K. I am also selling the contents seperately for 10K.

My queries are:
a) What is the best and reliable/safe way to receive the payment? i.e. cheque/pay order. (I heard few stories about fake demand drafts)
b) Is the money taxable? If yes, then by what %tage.
 
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seller432 said:
I have a house up on sale for 380K. I am also selling the contents seperately for 10K.
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Do you mean selling the contents to another separate buyer or something? If not and this is an attempt to avoid bumping the buyer into the next stamp duty bracket then bear in mind that this strategy is at best questionable and at worst illegal tax avoidance (yes - I mean avoidance and not evasion here). Make sure to ask your solicitor or a tax expert about the advisability of this way of selling.
 
ClubMan said:
Do you mean selling the contents to another separate buyer or something? If not and this is an attempt to avoid bumping the buyer into the next stamp duty bracket then bear in mind that this strategy is at best questionable and at worst illegal tax avoidance (yes - I mean avoidance and not evasion here). Make sure to ask your solicitor or a tax expert about the advisability of this way of selling.
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Just to clarify, any ensuing tax liability would be upon the buyer, not the seller, so it should really be the buyer who contacts a tax expert. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction, however many buyers are under the impression that this route allows them to stay under the 381 threshold, this is not true and it is up to THEIR solicitor to inform them of this. This is not an issue for OP.
 
Not all avoidance is legal. Revenue have extensive anti-avoidance powers which allows then to determine that a technically legal transaction that is artifically structured mainly or solely to avoid tax is actually illegal.
 
Howitzer said:
Just to clarify, any ensuing tax liability would be upon the buyer, not the seller, so it should really be the buyer who contacts a tax expert. This is a perfectly legitimate transaction, however many buyers are under the impression that this route allows them to stay under the 381 threshold, this is not true and it is up to THEIR solicitor to inform them of this. This is not an issue for OP.
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Yes - but I'm just pointing out that structuring the sale in the way described possibly to make it more attractive to buyers by keeping the buyers out of the next SD rate band should be pointless.
 
I am selling the contents to the buyer only. It is very much like - take house for 380K and contents for 10-15K. Now the contract will obviously be for 380K but the remaining amount will be paid seperately. It's very much like if you buy my house, you will have to pay extra for the contents. (much the same if you want to sell your car to the person who is buying your house)

My question(concern) is that
a) Mode of payment - can i just tell him to transfer money into my current account OR get a demand draft OR get a cheque OR .....
b) Tax on selling of contents- Can this amount be treated as my income and liable for tax. I paid for these contents from my hard earned money and can't give it for free.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions
 
seller432 said:
I am selling the contents to the buyer only. It is very much like - take house for 380K and contents for 10-15K. Now the contract will obviously be for 380K but the remaining amount will be paid seperately. It's very much like if you buy my house, you will have to pay extra for the contents. (much the same if you want to sell your car to the person who is buying your house)
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As I say - this is really an issue for the buyer but this way of structuring the deal will not avoid them being bumped into the €381,001-€635,000 6% (FTB)/7.5% (non FTB/investor) SD bracket.
 
ClubMan said:
As I say - this is really an issue for the buyer but this way of structuring the deal will not avoid them being bumped into the €381,001-€635,000 6% (FTB)/7.5% (non FTB/investor) SD bracket.
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It doesn't stop them changing brackets, but does it (I seem to remember coming across the full details on another thread before) change the figure which they pay the SD on? (e.g. still pay the higher percentage, but on a lower figure)
 
seller432 said:
I am selling the contents to the buyer only. It is very much like - take house for 380K and contents for 10-15K. Now the contract will obviously be for 380K but the remaining amount will be paid seperately. It's very much like if you buy my house, you will have to pay extra for the contents. (much the same if you want to sell your car to the person who is buying your house)
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Tread carefully seller432, or you could end up being complicit in illegal tax avoidance. The buyer must declare the cost of the house and the contents to the revenue. If the combined cost of the house and the contents pushes the house into a higher SD bracket then they will pay the higher rate on the lower amount.

If the buyer plans on not informing the revenue that they are purchasing the contents from you, then in the event of the buyer being pursued for SD avoidance, the revenue may ask questions about your role in the transaction.

As for how you should receive payment? It is very simple - if you want everything to be above board, then you receive payment for the entire transaction through your solicitor.
 
I think the lads are not getting my first question.

If you sell any of your stuff which cost couple of grand (say 15K). How will you take the payment - thru cash, thru cheque or thru pay order? I mean how to ensure that the cash given is not fake currency, cheque does not bounce or demand draft is not fake. In simple words, what is the safest way to ensure that the payment you have received is okay before delivering the stuff.

For second question, just out of curiosity tell me one thing, if the prospective buyer is buying my house for 380K. And he likes my car as well and decides to buy the car for 10K. Now this 10K by selling the car is none of Revenue's business, then how come 10K by selling the contents is.

I can also sell the contents to person A who is not buying my house and this person A can then sell the contents to the original buyer. How these all bits are connected to the house price??

Apologies for asking these funny scenarios !!!!
 
seller432 said:
For second question, just out of curiosity tell me one thing, if the prospective buyer is buying my house for 380K. And he likes my car as well and decides to buy the car for 10K. Now this 10K by selling the car is none of Revenue's business, then how come 10K by selling the contents is.
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Because the sale of the contents is (in all likelyhood) a transaction related to the sale of the house. See here and here for example.
 
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