REVENUE TARGETING INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

The Revenue is targeting Irish owners of foreign investment properties who are now disposing of them to bolster their depleted cash reserves, The Sunday Business Post states.

Although the front-page lead article does not give a figure for the overall value of such sales, it is believed Irish citizens may own up to 250,000 foreign properties, many of them bought during the boom years. Internal Revenue documents show a belief that a growing number of individuals are trying to offload properties without declaring the proceeds.

According to “well-placed sources”, the Revenue is now trawling through the records of overseas property deals, particularly in France and Spain. The Revenue believes there has been a surge in sales of foreign properties by previously asset-rich Irish citizens who now find themselves in more straitened times. However, they are not declaring the proceeds of such sales for tax purposes.

In addition to potential capital gains liabilities, Revenue is looking at undeclared proceeds from rental income on that villa on the costa or that bijou pied-a-terre in Paris that someone somehow neglected to mention on their annual returns.

Until now, the Revenue had been focusing its attention on property purchases; in a sure sign of the times, this has now switched to sales instead.