Returning after 13 years away

I used to to be a regular on this forum under this and previous names however in the madness of the tiger I left Ireland and have spend 13 great years in UK. Now with child ready for irish secondary school seems it might be a good time to return. home

I'd be interested in hear from people who have made this move recently. I think I'm on top of most of the obvious things but am interested in any things that may not be obvious to a UK resident.

Things that I have considered
USC
Income tax (especially the low amount when the higher rate kicks in)
Property tax
Water charges
ATM transaction charge / card levy?
Cost of living appears to be about 15% higher
How much would people advise to budget for groceries (not skimping) does €750 pcm for a family of 3 sound optimistic?
Car insurance is very expensive (budget €1000)
No tax protection on investments (UK have ISA which are very tax efficient)
Question: Is all income considered equally, for instance is there any CGT allowance on investments?
DIRT on deposit gains
Pension contributions appear to max out at around £28k again this is a limited tax shelter
Property is considerably cheaper than where we are
I think Stamp (house purchase) duty is around 1% yes?
Question: How much would the legal fees (for house purchase) typically be straight up reputable firm no DIY?
Question: I can easily see how much car fuel is but how much should I budget to
Heat a large home by Oil Fired Central Heating?
How much budget for bottled gas for cooker?
I think I have figured out electricity charges through good cost comparrision sites
VHI around €1000 per year for family of 3?
i'm finding it hard to figure out home insurance without inviting the companies to spam me. What's typical?
Mobile phone looks like €60 per month for all you can eat is enough to budget yes?
Broadband and TV for €60
How much is SKY sports?

OK I know that was a complete brain dump but I also know how AAM folks like context to know what level of detail I'm after. And I'd hate to attract the wrath of Clubman... is he still here?

The main issue is the very high mortgage rates in Ireland compared to the UK, or will you be buying your home with cash?

Effective rates of income tax are very low in Ireland - especially for married couples where only one is earning.

[broken link removed]

He was last spotted 19th October, so yep he is still around!

Some attempted answers here:

Queenspawn said:

Water charges

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Appear to be optional depending who you ask ;-)

Queenspawn said:

ATM transaction charge / card levy?

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Negligible relative to other things you mentioned.

Queenspawn said:

Car insurance is very expensive (budget €1000)

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Depends on the car. You'll could also be hit with no claims bonus expiry, unless they recognise UK one. My insurance is E360 on a 1.8L petrol for example.

Queenspawn said:

No tax protection on investments (UK have ISA which are very tax efficient)

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Ireland SUCKS for this. Investing outside a pension is seemingly not encouraged. Index funds and ETFs are nowhere near as easy as in UK. Direct share holding is the easiest tax-wise, which attract CGT and allow loss relief.

Queenspawn said:

Question: Is all income considered equally, for instance is there any CGT allowance on investments?

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See above. Funds and ETFs are generally complex and taxed more heavily than shares.

Queenspawn said:

DIRT on deposit gains

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Currently 41%, pretty much makes regular deposits pointless due to high DIRT and low rates.

Queenspawn said:

Pension contributions appear to max out at around £28k again this is a limited tax shelter

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Not sure what age you are, but % on which you get tax relief increases with age e.g. if 30-40 year old you can contribute 20% of your gross income and still get the tax relief.

Queenspawn said:

Property is considerably cheaper than where we are.

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Im very surprised at that!

Queenspawn said:

VHI around €1000 per year for family of 3?

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Probably about right. Issues again with your age and being outside country due to new Lifetime Community Rating rules. This will mean loadings on your premium, possibly.

Queenspawn said:

Mobile phone looks like €60 per month for all you can eat is enough to budget yes?

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Thats waaaaaaay too much. You can get E10 per month if you want. Check out http://www.48months.ie/membership-plans. Ignore fact that it says for 18-22 year olds, is marketing gimmick.

Queenspawn said:

Broadband and TV for €60

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Too expensive, just get BB only and hook up TV and laptop, using netflix, rte player, flmOnTv etc etc.

Queenspawn said:

How much is SKY sports?

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Waste of time. You can find all sporting events for online.

Hi username

By answering within the quotes, it's not easy to see your answer.

A better way would be as follows:

1) Select the text you want to quote
2)click on +quote



3) Select the next bit of text you want to quote
4) click on + quote , etc

In the Reply box, click on

Queenspawn said:

ATM transaction charge / card levy?

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Queenspawn said:

Question: Is all income considered equally, for instance is there any CGT allowance on investments?

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And then write your reply to each.

Username123 and BB thanks that great answers it's encouraging to see AAM is still a decent place to meet. Main take away for is to find an insurance company to recognise my NCD and do some research on health insurance.

Queenspawn said:

How much would people advise to budget for groceries (not skimping) does €750 pcm for a family of 3 sound optimistic?

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Not at all, family of four here and we spend around 750pm for food, toiletries, cleaning supplies etc. We shop at Tesco + a local Polish shop (as they have tasty cheese and cold cuts and the prices are very reasonable).

Queenspawn said:

USC

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USC rates can be found here - they are reducing but they won't be disappearing in any hurry!
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/usc/index.html

Queenspawn said:

Income tax (especially the low amount when the higher rate kicks in)

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The high rate does kick in at quite a low level but it is probably USC that will hurt more (especially if your income is over €80k as you then go into the top USC bracket which hasn't been reduced in the last two budgets and is effectively a wealth tax).

Queenspawn said:

Property tax

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Based on property valuation - frozen at current levels until 2017. I am assuming that is irrespective of a house sale but it might be worth confirming that.
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/lpt/liability.html

Queenspawn said:

Water charges

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Currently at a flat rate (though if the property is metered you will get the meter information in the bill) in your case it will be €260 per annum billed quarterly.

Queenspawn said:

Pension contributions appear to max out at around £28k again this is a limited tax shelter

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The max is age dependent. The limit is actually placed on the qualifying income (currently that is €115k) so if you are in the 40-49 age bracket that means a max of €28750 in contributions - assuming you are contributing up to the limit of 25% of your income (if your income is lower than €115k then you won't be able to contribute that). If you are in the 50-54 age bracket the limit is 30% so your max now becomes €34500.

Re VHI...not sure what you work at but most professionals would have health insurance through their employer.

Thirsty said:

Re VHI...not sure what you work at but most professionals would have health insurance through their employer.

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BUT... bare in mind it is subject to BIK tax which if you are earning above 70-80k you will pay 52% of it yourself. Just sayin....

You can spend a lot more than 1k on health insurance for 2a plus 1 c!