rental income, married but one earner

A

aristotle

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I have a house in my own name that I have rental income from. I am married and I am the assessable spouse and only earner as wife is stay-at-home mother.

Is it beneficial or is it possible to assign the rental income to my wife on a tax return? Assuming it will be taxed at the lower rate? My marginal rate is the upper rate.

Thanks
 
I'm trying to work out something similar at the moment.

My understanding from my research to date is that you would have to transfer the rental property into your wife's sole name to do this.
 
Yeah thought that might be the case alright. House has an outstanding mortgage so unlikely to be able to transfer title.
 
If you put the rental income in your wife's name, she will pay class S PRSI and this counts towards a contributory OAP. This is may be a much more important consideration than any tax saving.
 
I thought that as a stay at home mother who is receipt of childrens allowance that that counts towards full state pension ?
 
In 1994, the Government introduced the homemaker's scheme to make it easier for stay-at-home parents to qualify for a contributory State pension.

The scheme ignores any years spent looking after children (under the age of 12) in the home when working out your yearly average of social insurance contributions.

The below is form http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Homemakers-Scheme.aspx
The Homemaker scheme was introduced to make it easier for those who provide full-time care for children or for an incapacitated person to qualify for a State Pension (Contributory). The scheme came into effect on 6 April 1994 and applies to both men and women.

One of the qualifying conditions for State Pension (Contributory) is that the person has a minimum yearly average number of contributions since entering social insurance to reaching pension age. The Homemakers scheme provides that contribution years spent working in the home while caring on a full-time basis for a child up to 12 years of age or an incapacitated person age 12 or over will be disregarded in calculating a person's yearly average number of contributions.
 
RedOnion said:
I'm trying to work out something similar at the moment.

My understanding from my research to date is that you would have to transfer the rental property into your wife's sole name to do this.
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I don't see why a bank would object to this. I presume this property was purchased prior to marriage. I don't think you'll be able to declare the entire income as your wife's though. You should apportion it 50/50. Talk to your accountant.
 
The rental income will assume PRSI but I have been informed that this would not count for contributory pension as it is classed as unearned income. Would love further info on this . Where would one find further info on that point.
 
RedOnion said:
My understanding from my research to date is that you would have to transfer the rental property into your wife's sole name to do this.
Click to expand...

Incorrect. The facts of the case will determine the most appropriate treatment for tax purposes, but you can't just do something because it's the most tax efficient arrangement.
 
Meath Lady said:
The rental income will assume PRSI but I have been informed that this would not count for contributory pension as it is classed as unearned income. Would love further info on this . Where would one find further info on that point.
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Hi, where a person's only income is unearned income, they pay PRSI at class S which does count towards contributory pension.

What class your PRSI is under depends on circumstances.

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Inf...ion-of-PRSI-Liability-to-Unearned-Income.aspx
 
T McGibney said:
Incorrect. The facts of the case will determine the most appropriate treatment for tax purposes, but you can't just do something because it's the most tax efficient arrangement.
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You are of course correct. The facts in the case I was looking at are different, and I shouldn't have suggested transferring title would alter the tax treatment universally (which wasn't what I had intended in my head!).
 
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