Mortgage Protection and Inheritance Tax for Cohabiting Couples

According to the 2016 census, there are over 152,000 cohabiting couples living in Ireland¹. As you know, even though a cohabiting couple live together, may own a property together and possibly have children together, in the eyes of Revenue they are treated as ‘strangers’ when it comes to inheritance tax.

With a current inheritance tax threshold of €16,250 for cohabiting couples, this can result in an unexpected and unwelcome tax bill for the surviving partner, should the worst happen.

While many cohabiting couples put mortgage protection in place to ensure the mortgage is cleared upon the death of a partner, what they may not fully understand is how Revenue will treat the inheritance of the property by the surviving partner. Who owned the property? how the mortgage protection policy was set up? including who paid the premiums?, are some of the factors that can affect how much inheritance tax the surviving partner must pay.

If you are a cohabiting couple and would like to plan correctly, please contact Eolas Money and we will be happy to go through a guide for cohabiting couples. Emails to queries@eolasmoney.ie or calls on 052 6129696