Attention landlords: You could be in line for a tax refund worth thousands

A recent High Court ruling has caused confusion in relation to landlords’ tax returns after it was found that the Non Principal Private Residence charge (NPPR) should in fact be allowed as a deductible expense against rental profits.

The charge, €200, was in force from 2009 to 2013. It was excluded from Landlord's rental returns during these years. Should they be allowed to retrospectively reclaim it as a tax deduction, refunds will be due and could run into the thousands. The Revenue Commissioners issued a statement this week saying that although they will be appealing the judgement they will still start accepting claims very soon.

Speaking about this issue, David Bates of TaxAssist Accountants said ‘We are advising all of our landlord clients to start getting their claims in. We would have a lot of clients who have more than one rental property and incurred a significant cost as a result of the NPPR charge. If you add that all up this could be a significant return. Whilst we will have to wait for the final ruling before any refunds are issued Revenue has been quite clear in encouraging clients to get their claims in now. Doing this now rather than waiting a year or two for the ruling means that you will not miss out on claiming for back years’.

Landlords will have to make formal ‘repayment claims’ to Revenue themselves or via their Accountant and the process for doing this opens online on 3 April 2017.