Good News for Homeowners Planning to Renovate their Homes!

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Budget 2013 had some good news for Homeowners planning to renovate their home in the coming months. A new Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) was introduced which will run from the earlier start date of 25 October 2013 to 31 December 2015. The incentive provides for tax relief for Homeowners by way of a tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure on repair, renovation or improvement work carried out on a principal private residence.

Qualifying expenditure is expenditure subject to the 13.5% VAT rate.

The work must cost a minimum of €5,000 (exclusive of VAT) which will attract a credit of €675. Where the cost of the work exceeds €30,000 (exclusive of VAT), a maximum credit of €4,050 will apply. The credit is payable over the two years following the year in which the work is carried out.

The work must be carried out and paid for on or after 25 October 2013 and up to 31 December 2015. Homeowners must be up to date with their Local Property Tax in order to qualify under the incentive while Building Contractors must be tax compliant in order to carry out works.

Revenues systems have yet to be developed but the incentive will be administered through Revenue's online systems. All work, payments and claims will be registered electronically with Revenue.

For further information and FAQ’s, please visit Revenue website

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/hri/index.html

Clarity on due date for Local Property Tax (LPT) 2014

Just to clarify you do not have to pay your 2014 LPT now, or at any stage before Christmas. The tax is not due until 1 January 2014.

All Revenue is asking you to do is to let them know now how you want to pay for 2014, fill in the payment instruction on paper (and send it to Revenue by 14 November) or online by 27 November. You can choose to pay in one lump sum or by a phased payment method.

It is also important to note that if you choose to pay now by Debit/Credit Card it will be deducted immediately. This is the nature of the banking and credit card systems. However there are a number of different payments options which are detailed in the link below.

Please see the following link for all the information you need on Paying your LPT for 2014 - http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/lpt/index.html

Sarah Dunne is Audit Manager in OSK.  Contact OSK Tax Advisors for more information.

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