Tax - Joint assessment or Separate assessment - Both in high tax bracket

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PaxmanK

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Im helping my brother fill out form 11 at the moment.
Ive been telling him that he should choose joint assessment but he saw on this website a calculator that is telling him to go for separate assessment and now im confused.

He earns €75k plus about €10k rental income.
She is a public servant and earns €65k

That website says there will a saving €4900 if he goes for separate assessment.
Is this right?
If it is i am getting it in the neck. Ive been telling him to go for joint assessment for years.
Can he back date the type of assessment if need be?

Edit:
Heres the website he was talking about
https://www.taxworld.ie/joint-tax-comparison-tool/
 
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It shouldn’t make any difference at all.

Savings only arise when one spouse has low or no income.
 
From a different site and a different query but just noticed this calculator was also mentioned.

'That calculator [https://www.taxworld.ie/joint-tax-comparison-tool/] seems to have an error.

It is taxing the 'increase' (€13200, where you enter €28000 for both higher and lower earner) at the higher 40% rate under the joint assessment option. If you refer to the 'tax rates and bands' table shown on this page [https://revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-c...rts/index.aspx] you can see that a jointly assessed couple are taxed at 20% on the first €42800 of income with the possibility of increasing that by up to €24800 [in 2017] at 20%. Any amount over the sum of €42800 + increase is taxed at 40%.'
The taxworld calculator is applying the 40% rate instead instead of the 20% rate- seems to be a bug, I'd guess
 
PaxmanK said:
Can he back date the type of assessment if need be?
Click to expand...

AFAIK the answer is No AND if they wish to change they must notify Revenue by April of the year prior to when they wish to change.

That is why it's important they are jointly assessed, it makes no difference now but if there is an unexpected change in their circumstances the difference could cost them a lot before they can change.

There is no advantage to being assessed seperately that I am aware of.
 
Thanks guys. That website isnt a great ad for their service is it. Had me doubting myself. I wonder how many others have go e to that one and made changes because of it.
 
PaxmanK said:
Thanks guys. That website isnt a great ad for their service is it. Had me doubting myself. I wonder how many others have go e to that one and made changes because of it.
Click to expand...
TaxWorld is owned and run by Alan Moore, one of the country's leading tax consultants. A stupid online calculator doesn't detract from that.
 
Is the calculator actually wrong? I was just quoting what I read on another site so haven't checked calculation or anything. If it is wrong then it is a bit odd from such an expert is it not?
 
Monbretia said:
Is the calculator actually wrong? I was just quoting what I read on another site so haven't checked calculation or anything. If it is wrong then it is a bit odd from such an expert is it not?
Click to expand...
It's wrong alright. A jointly assessed couple with 2 incomes each exceeding the standard rate band enjoy 2 standard rate bands. The calculator assumes they share a married "single income" band.

I doubt Alan Moore even knows the calculator is on his site. I've alerted his office to bring the error to their attention.
 
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Although one could be cynical and say a calculator that showed a lower tax take than others could make his business seem more attractive :)

If he doesn't know it's there and it's actually inaccurate then that wouldn't inspire confidence in the average customer who might not know of his credentials although the average customer might be more swayed by my first point!
 
Thanks guys.
Well I'm just glad I'm not getting g blamed for losing my brother tens of thousands over the last few years :)
 
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