Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

191. To ask the Minister for Finance the annual cost in each of the years 2008 to 2016 and to date in 2017 of tax reliefs and exemptions available to residential landlords. [36335/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am advised that, until recently, Revenue did not require rental income to be returned in a manner that would enable residential rental accommodation income to be separately identified from rental income in respect of other types of property, such as commercial rental property. It is not therefore possible to provide the annual cost in each of the years 2008 to 2016, and to date in 2017, of tax reliefs and exemptions available to residential landlords as sought by the Deputy. However, tax returns for the 2016 year of assessment onwards have separate data fields for residential property rental income and non-residential property rental income. The relevant information will become available in due course.

The Deputy may wish to note that the 2013 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General contains, in Chapter 16, a detailed review of the taxation of rental income and expenses deductible therefrom.  This report is available on the website of the Comptroller and Auditor General and can be accessed via the following link:

As the Deputy may be aware, a working group was established in early 2017 to examine and report on the tax treatment of landlords (or rental accommodation providers) and to put forward options, where appropriate, for amendments to such treatment. The establishment of this group was one of the commitments contained in the ‘Strategy for the Rental Sector’ which was published by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in December 2016. The working group is chaired by the Department of Finance and its membership consists of officials from the Department of Finance; the Revenue Commissioners; the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government; and the Residential Tenancies Board.

As part of the group’s work, a public consultation lasting for four weeks was conducted from March to April 2017 which received almost 70 written submissions from a wide range of interested parties, including individual landlords, representative bodies and charitable organisations.  A summary paper on the issues considered has been prepared for discussion by the Tax Strategy Group this month and the final report of the working group is due to be completed shortly thereafter, to allow for consideration of any options put forward as part of my deliberations for Budget 2018.