Cohabiting Couple

Liam and Louise are not married and have been living together for the past 15 years. They jointly own their family home in Dublin. A number of years ago Liam inherited a house from his mother, which he lets to a young couple. Liam is a department store manager. His annual salary and rental profit amount to €86,000 a year. Louise stays at home to look after two children.

Liam and Louise are disappointed that for income tax purposes they will still be treated as single people, which they believe is unfair as it generates a higher tax liability for them compared to a married couple in similar circumstances.

They also have concerns in relation to the amount of Capital Acquisitions Tax they would be payable if Liam were to die and pass his rental property to Louise and are disappointed the Minister had not addressed this inequity, despite the fact that the issue has been raised in a consultation paper by the Law Reform commission and the government was reportedly considering a range of options which would provide greater fairness between married and cohabiting couple in the tax area. They are happy that the minister had lowered the top tax rate to 41 per cent in addition to increasing the personal tax credit and the standard-rate tax band for single people. They are disappointed that the budget will give them just €106 extra net cash a month in 2007.