OFFICIALS WITHIN THE Department of Finance warned against the tax break for landlords that was introduced in Budget 2024.
Department officials also estimated that more than one in four landlords will pay no income tax on the rents they charge as a result of the tax break.
The documents were released to Sinn Féin under the Freedom of Information Act.
Landlords will be entitled to have rental income of up to €3,000 tax free at the standard rate (20%) in 2024.
This will rise to €4,000 in 2025 and €5,000 for years 2026 and 2027.
This means a 20% saving on each amount per year.
So, next year landlords will get tax relief of €600. This will rise to €800 by 2025, and €1,000 for 2026 and 2027.
The relief will reduce the tax due on rental income by up to €600 in 2024, €800 in 2025, and €1,000 in 2026 and 2027.
However, it will be clawed back if the landlord leaves the rental market between 2024 and the end of 2027.
In documents prepared by senior officials within the Department and released under the FOI act, there was an original plan to allow landlords a rental income tax disregard of up to €10,000.
This was later scaled down to €5,000.
The documents also noted that “there is already a significant amount of tax relief available to individuals who are landlords” and advised that the Tax Division did not recommend a rental income disregard.
It was further stated that “Ireland’s past experience with tax incentives in the property sector strongly suggests the need for a cautionary stance in this area”.
A second document re-iterated these concerns and stated: “A tax relief will only work in this regard if tax is a primary factor causing people to exit the rental sector and a primary factor in dissuading people from entering it.
“The evidence available does not appear to support this case, as such, it raises the question how effective tax relief will be in achieving this aim.”
Department officials reference a Residential Tenancies Board report from June 2021 that found only 6% of small landlords cited taxation as a motive for leaving the market.
A later document then called for the tax relief to have a “sunset clause of three years to end in 2026 as is standard practice as it is required by the Department’s Tax Expenditure Guidelines”.
However, Finance Minister Michael McGrath decided that “on balance” a period of three years is too short.
He proposed that the relief be extended for four years, to 2027.
Commenting on the documents, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said: “In reality, thousands more landlords will be able to reduce their tax liability to zero after claiming existing capital allowances.
“Officials were also right to warn that this tax break raised serious issues around fairness for our tax system – why should nurses, gardaí, teachers and other workers pay more tax than landlords will on their rental income?”
Doherty also remarked that “Department officials were clear in their advice that this tax break is unlikely to have any impact in preventing some landlords from selling their properties”.
Doherty accused the government of ignoring all the “evidence and advice from their own officials that this tax break was unfair, costly and ineffective” and remarked that “government pressed ahead with an unequitable sop to landlords that will do nothing to increase housing supply or improve affordability”.
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Decided since I was 8 i wanted to donate all organs. I rarely drink , don’t smoke or do drugs , I’m very healthy, never been gravely ill, excellent sight , good heart, lifeguard so lungs are swimmers lungs etc. I would be delighted to give all them away. Card signed and in my purse by myself and my mother. No if buts or ands if I pass away , god for bid.
I wasn’t a Chelsea fan before reading this article but I’ve had a change of heart ;)
A friend of mine died tragically about 8 years ago and 5 people were saved with her organs. I needed and received a kidney in 2010 and while most of us don’t put too much thought into the whole thing, it’s incredible how life changing the selfless act of carrying a donor card can be for some desperately ill people. If the worst happens, I can’t think of a better legacy to leave behind!
Don’t forget to donate blood too. It can save a life. I’m giving blood since I was 18 …… You never know you could be on the receiving end I too want to donate my organs. Why waste them in the earth.
IMO Organ donation should be an opt-out process.
Some people just don’t carry cards, etc. So if someone felt strongly about not donating they can carry an opt-out card instead. That way more lives could be saved.
Chelsea do u go out every night dressed like that???
Seriously though I think the opt out rather than the opt in donor system should be used. How many people would refuse a donated organ to keep them alive while at the same time not offering the donation themselves should the worst happen???
They can take all or any of me if its of any use, and can help someone.
I’d be happy to donate organs, or even blood for that matter but the gay blood ban is still going strong. Sorry to say that someone who desparately needs the blood or organs will be denied.
That is one of the biggest problems with donation in this country, that and people who lived in the UK in the 90′s not being able to donate blood or bone products.
They do such stringent tests on blood ect anyway no one should be ruled out anymore, and especially not because of their sexual orientation.
The lottery and public funded organ donor awareness week is more a fundraising exercise for the kidney assoc than improving organ donation.
If the ika believe that improving organ donation retrieval will improve by hiring coordination staff in our hospitals then here’s an idea, identify a large hospital with low organ retrieval and install a member of staff whose sole purpose it is to increase organ donation. This can be done on a trial basis and can be used to prove that it can be rolled out in other hospitals.
Every year we listen to murphy waffling on about organ donation with his opinion changing with each threat to the lucrative amounts of money the ika pull in from donation week.
A donation card is a useful as used toilet paper.
If people are serious about organ donation they would be better off lobbying the government to correct failed policy in our hospitals rather than giving money to the ika. The ika have repeatedly failed in this area.
How much do the ika receive each year to promote awareness?
How much do the ika spend on donor awareness each year?
I think you will find a rather large gap between the 2!
Of course the other charities who claim to have an interest are no better, leaving the “campaign” to the tired and failed ika.
Why is there a low turn out on organ donations Is that because of trust !
It’s because it’s very difficult to ask a family who see their loved one on life support to give up hope on them coming out of icu alive to make a decision that will see that little bit of hope gone forever.
An organ transplant coordinator and the intensive care anaesthetics teams in this country have very difficult jobs at times like this, they walk tightropes where one wrong word or gesture is enough for family members not to consent.
I believe that more educational programs for promoting organ donation should be in school systemespeciallyaimed at new teen drivers.
Also I think that the idea of a hospital not accepting some perfectly good organs due to person commiting suicide is absurd. I can understand them not taking organs from person that died from a disease or something like that. However, if the body is received immediately (24hrs) following death and the organs have not been compromised then why can the organs not be accepted?Yes organs need to be perfused (meaning filled with blood and vital fluids) at time of transplant. So if this is possible I believe family members should be advised and asked for donation.
have your say