Providing property to family rent free – is there a liability?

An interesting article in the Irish Times, (17^th April 2018), where a question is asked, ‘If I allow my son and his girlfriend to live in one of my investment properties, rent free, do I have a tax liability’?

The answer…yes you could.

‘If the rent would be about €1,000 a month, they are effectively getting a gift from you of €12,000 a year.’

As the son can receive a total of €310,000 in gifts and inheritances between his parents, this amount could be offset against this limit.

In saying that, you are entitled to give anyone €3,000 a year. In that case, this could reduce the amount to €6,000 to be offset if €3,000 was gifted to the son and his girlfriend. Also, their wife/husband could also give €3,000 separately.

This means you could effectively gift them a total of €12,000 a year, meaning eliminating a tax issue.

Read this article in full here