People who cannot service their mortgage could declare insolvency and be released from bankruptcy – including their mortgage deficits – within three years under new government proposals, according to the main story in The Sunday Business Post.
The looming tax deadline presents the final opportunity to offset a pension contribution against tax for 2010. Relief is granted at the taxpayer’s marginal rate of income tax subject to an overall earnings cap and a sliding-scale of contributions determined by age.
The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (Act) was signed into law on 19 July 2011. The purpose of the legislation is extend to registered civil partners the same tax treatment as is currently provided to married couples under the Tax Acts. It was anticipated that the Act would extend a similar tax treatment to cohabitants however the rights of cohabitants with regard to tax legislation have not being significantly increased in this Act.
Most people look forward to the annual pay-and-file deadline with as much relish as root canal treatment; the Sunday Business Post devotes its personal finance section this weekend to mitigating the pain.
A Sunday Times reader asks personal finance expert Jill Kerby if he is liable for tax on dividends earned from shares in the UK, which have already been taxed there.
Ms Kerby advises that tax is liable here, as the share dividend is treated as income. Any UK tax already paid is not refundable.
“Because the UK tax is non-refundable, top-rate taxpayers need to pick and choose shares carefully, concentrating on those likely to generate capital gains rather than income,” Kerby advises.
Anyone planning to change their working arrangements after the birth of a child should recognise the likely tax implications, according to a report in The Sunday Business Post.
As many as 8,500 public servants will retire in the coming months to avail of current benefits that are due to expire in February and over fears lucrative lump sums will be taxed in future, according to The Sunday Business Post.
The wealth of the average household fell by €100,000 between late 2008 and the end of 2010, mainly due to the collapse in property prices, The Sunday Business Post reports.
The tax breaks for the Eircom employee share ownership trust (Esot) will be extended beyond their present end date of 2014, according to a report in The Sunday Times.
Only 60 people in Ireland could afford to pay the full cost of a stay in a public nursing home based on their pension income, according to a new study detailed in The Sunday Business Post.
The Revenue has established a dedicated network of advisers to deal with queries about new tax rules for people in civil partnerships and co-habiting relationships, according to The Sunday Business Post.
New funding standards proposals for defined benefit pension schemes may force trustees to “dramatically cut benefits” or even wind them up altogether, The Sunday Business Post reports.
Entrepreneurs know they must limit their exposure to risk but they also know there is no way to eliminate it entirely, writes senior counsel Ross Maguire in The Sunday Business Post.