A landlord lets two furnished dwellings. The furnishings cost €2,400 and €8,000 in Dwelling 1 and Dwelling 2 respectively and Wear & Tear is due for both premises*.

The rental income for tax purposes is calculated as follows:

Dwelling 1 Dwelling 2 € € Gross Rent 4,000 18,000 Less: Insurance 800 1,000 Ground Rent 300 Electricty/Heating 1,200 2,100 Repairs 900 1,700 **Interest 1,000 2,000 Total deductions 4,200 6,900 Surplus 11,100 Deficiency (200) Rental income for tax purposes 10,900 Less: Wear & Tear 1,300Amount chargeable under Case V 9,600

*    Wear & Tear allowances are €1,300 (€2,400 @ 12.5% + €8,000 @ 12.5%)

**     The deduction for interest accruing on loans used to purchase, improve or repair rented residential property is restricted to 75% of the interest accruing on or after 7 April 2009. For the purposes of the restriction, the interest is treated as accruing on a daily basis. The date the loan is taken out is not relevant.

You must keep full and accurate records of your lettings. All supporting records such as invoices, bank and building society statements, cheque stubs, receipts, etc. should also be retained. In general, records must be retained for six years though this period may vary in certain circumstances.

‘Rent-to-Buy’ and similar schemes are essentially schemes, to provide an incentive for people to purchase a property by giving them the opportunity to live in the property for a trial period before deciding whether to purchase that property and by discounting the purchase price of the property in certain situations.

A common type of arrangement is for the potential purchaser to occupy the property under a letting agreement. Where the person decides at some stage within a pre-agreed period to purchase the property, the purchase price is reduced by some, or all, of the rent that has already been paid. The purchase price may be further discounted to reward early purchase. Usually, any rent that has already been paid is forfeited where the person decides not to purchase.

There are many variations on this type of ‘Rent-to-Buy’ scheme. For example, the prospective purchaser may occupy the property under a caretaker’s agreement and, rather than paying rent, he or she pays a deposit towards the purchase price of the property. Another variation is for the prospective purchaser to make a payment for an option to purchase the property at a pre-agreed price within a pre-agreed timeframe. Such deposits and option payments may be paid up front or by instalments over the pre-agreed period.

pdfTax Instruction 22.1.3 (PDF, 38 KB) outlines some of the tax consequences that are likely to result from different types of arrangements from the perspective of both vendor and purchaser.

Where a property that has been let is disposed of, Capital Gains Tax may arise on the disposal. The chargeable gain is calculated by deducting any allowable expenditure from the amount realised on the disposal.

The allowable expenditure may include:

Expenditure on costs of acquisition and improvement may be adjusted to take account of inflation. Where a disposal is made on or after 1 January 2003, the indexation relief will only apply for the period of ownership of the asset up to 31 December 2002. No relief is due if period of ownership is less than 12 months.

Further information on Capital Gains Tax generally is contained in;

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/rent-accounts-keeping-records-rent-to-buy-and-similar-schemes-and-capital-gains-tax-5805859.html

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Forex Currency Trading- An Inside Look

By odihost on March 28th, 2012

If you are interested in performing some financial investments but feel like stocks and bonds are not your thing, try Foreign Exchange (Forex) trading. The Foreign Exchange market is a form of exchange for the trading of international currencies. One of the best aspects of the Forex Market is that is that it is considered to be a “perfect” market and free of insider trading and market manipulation making it extremely appealing to people over stocks or bonds trading. Another fantastic reason to get into Forex trading is because it is a 24 hour market so trading can be done anytime of the day depending on the currencies you are attempting to trade.

The foreign currencies are always traded in pairs such as US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY) or British Pound/US Dollar (GBP/USD). Trillions of dollars are traded on a daily basis. Most of the exchanges that happen on the Forex market involve the trading of the “Majors” which are considered the seven biggest and most liquid currencies; the US Dollar, the Japanese Yen, the Euro, the Swiss Franc, the British Pound, the Australian Dollar, and the Canadian Dollar.

When trading Forex there is a bid price and an ask price and the difference of the two is called the spread. The bid price represents the price at which buyers are willing to buy, and the ask price represents the price that sellers are willing to sell at any given time during the trading day. The idea is to make a trade, or transaction, when one currency is on the up and another is going down giving you the chance to make a profit if you choose the right currency.

Forex currency trading is getting extremely popular in today’s market where trading stocks and bonds is even risker due to the state of the market. Who wouldn’t want to trade in the largest and most liquid financial market in the world? Trading in the Forex market will certainly give you the opportunity to earn a large profit if you play the market correctly. If you are a beginner, it is imperative to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of the foreign currency market and research as much information you can on how the Forex market works. Take a Forex trading course, or talk to an investor who currently trades foreign currencies to gain enough knowledge to feel comfortable making your first trade.  

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/forex-currency-trading-an-inside-look-5778180.html

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Mortgage Rate Guide

By admin on September 25th, 2009

Mortgage is a type of loan where you are using your house as collateral. The difference with normal loan is that your house becomes your backup  if you are unable to continue payments.

The interest for mortgage is calculated using mortgage rate. Mortgage in general uses fixed rate and floating rate. These differ in how the payments are set up and whether each payment will be influenced by current interest rates. Before buying a house, it’s very beneficial to do as much research as possible. You should learn each different type of mortgage, and how much they change each month.

To learn more about mortgage rate, you can visit www.gomortgagerates.com. GoMortgageRates.com was founded in 2003 and focuses on mortgage rates. They provides solution for individuals who wants to know more about mortgage rate. At GoMortgageRates.com you can learn different type of mortgage rates, and why mortgage rates fluctuate on a daily basis. They can also guide to refinance mortgage rate.

You can also learn more about credit score. Credit score is important because it will let lenders to get an idea of how likely you are to repay your bills. Every time you apply for credit your credit score is checked. So in order to have low mortgage rate, you need to have good credit score.GoMortgageRates.com will help you to improve your credit score.

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