Non-Resident Landlord Tax

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MrsWhiskerson

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Hi All,

I am a tenant in a rental property and my landlord lives in mainland Europe.

I have lived in the property for a few years and he had previous tenants living here before me.

I only recently learned that as a tenant, I must deduct 20% of the total rent and pay it to Revenue. Obviously, I was a bit worried as I haven’t been doing this before and would usually pay the rent into an Irish bank account in my landlords name.

I queried with Revenue who sent me a pdf booklet explaining everything and advised if my landlord doesn’t have a collection agent that I would need to pay the 20% to revenue and complete a form R185 and provide to my landlord.

Having contacted my landlord about this, he couldn’t give me a straight answer and advised a collection agent was not in place nor necessary. He advise that I continue pay 100% rent to him.

I sought further clarification from Revenue and copied him in the correspondence and they in turn confirmed that 20% tax must be withheld by the tenant and paid to revenue where a collection agent is not in place.

So, I paid my landlord 80% rent in the usual manner, paid 20% to revenue and sent the payment receipt and R185 form to my landlord for their records.

I have now received a 28 day notice of termination for rent arrears!

Can anyone advise what I can do if landlord is telling me to pay him 100% tax and ignore revenue or risk losing my home?!

Thanks in advance
 
MrsWhiskerson said:
Having contacted my landlord about this, he couldn’t give me a straight answer and advised a collection agent was not in place nor necessary. He advise that I continue pay 100% rent to him.
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Are you 100% sure that your landlord is non resident?

FWIW, this obligation to deduct 20% on tenants exists but is not really enforceable. No tenant can be reasonably expected to know their landlord's tax residence with complete certainty unless they get specific advice from the landlord to this effect.

I had a landlord years ago with a holiday home in Spain. Sometimes I'd call her and she'd be in Spain and agree to fix something when she was next home. I had no idea where was was ordinarily resident and there was no way Revenue could reasonably expect me to know.
 
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Yeah, 100% sure. He provided details before for rent supplement during Covid and provided his European address and contact details. Same details printed on recent rent increase notice. He made a couple of errors on the rent increase notice and through researching this, I came across the details of the tenants obligation to withhold tax.
 
I looked up the Revenue guidance and it's a "place of abode" test and I think at this stage it is 100% clear to you that his place of abode is abroad.

If I was you I would have left this alone, but you're committed now. Write the landlord a letter clearly explaining that your actions are fully in line with your legal obligations. There is not a hope the RTB will support him if it gets that far.
 
This is unbelievable. Will there ever be a mature rental market in this country
 
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