1. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Three Options
Single Assessment (Separate Treatment)
Joint Assessment
Separate Assessment

2. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Single Assessment
Each partner treated as single person
Single rate band and credits
Must opt for single assessment before end of the tax year

3. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Joint Assessment
Must be married and living together
Revenue automatically puts a couple on joint assessment when notified of marriage
One spouse is assessed on joint income of the couple

4. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Benefits of Joint Assessment
Married Tax Credit
Home Carers Credit
Increased standard rate tax band
Double mortgage interest relief

5. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Tax Bands for Married Couple
€33,800 for each spouse
€9,000 transferrable between spouses
€67,600 is maximum standard rate band for a couple

6. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separate Assessment
Each spouse taxed separately
Unused credits and rate band transferred to other spouse
Liability cannot exceed liability if the couple was jointly assessed
Must elect for separate assessment by 1st April of tax year

7. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separate Assessment
Both spouses assessed separately, filing two separate returns
Personal credit, age credit, blind person’s credit and incapacitated child credit divided equally
Other credits claimed by individual incurring expense or divided between spouses where shared

8. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Home Carer Tax Credit
Available for jointly assessed married (civil partnership) couple only
One spouse must care for a dependent
Normally dependent resides with couple
Home carer with income of less than €7,200 qualifies for full credit of €1,000
Credit not available when income exceeds €9,200

9. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Home Carer Tax Credit
Where home carer’s income is between €7,200 and €9,200 the credit is restricted as follows:
€1,000 less ((€Income - €7,200)/2)
The couple can choose to claim either the home carer credit or the additional standard rate band on the home carers income. Cannot choose both.

10. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Marriage
Treated as single persons for the year
Calculate the liability as if married for the year
When tax as married couple is less than tax as two single people then they can apply for a refund based on following formula
A x B /12
A = The additional tax due as two single people
B = Number of months married in the year

11. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Death
Treatment depends on the assessment basis prior to death
Where single assessment applied before death, there is no change to the taxation of the surviving spouse, except for his/her entitlement to the widowed person’s tax credit

12. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Death – Joint Assessment
Treatment depends on whether the assessable spouse or non-assessable spouse dies

13. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Death – Joint Assessment – Assessable spouse dies
Computation for deceased spouse will be from 1 January to date of death
Entitled to full married credit and full rate band
Entitled to PAYE credit for both spouses if in PAYE employment
Incapacitated child credit apportioned on time basis

14. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Death – Joint Assessment – Assessable spouse dies
Computation for surviving spouse will be from date of death to 31 December
Entitled to widowed persons’ tax credit in year of bereavement and single person’s rate band
Entitled to PAYE credit if in PAYE employment
Incapacitated child credit apportioned on time basis

15. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of Death – Joint Assessment –
Non-assessable spouse dies
One tax computation required for assessable spouse
Full income of surviving spouse for the year is taxed plus income of deceased spouse to date of death
Entitled to married credit and standard rate band
Entitled to two PAYE credits if both spouses in PAYE employment

16. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separation and Divorce
If a married couple/civil partnership are not living together and it is likely to be permanent they are separated
Separation can be an informal arrangement or under a legally enforceable maintenance agreement

17. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separation – legally enforceable maintenance agreement
Two options – single assessment or joint assessment

18. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separation – legally enforceable maintenance agreement
Single assessment
Taxed as single persons and account for own tax liability
Maintenance payments are deductible for person paying them
Recipient is taxable on maintenance payments under Case IV
Only maintenance payments to former spouse are taxable. Maintenance payments for children are ignored for tax purposes.

19. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separation – legally enforceable maintenance agreement
Joint assessment
Taxed jointly on a separate basis
Maintenance payments are ignored
To qualify for this option:
Both individuals must be Irish resident
Cannot be remarried

20. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Separation – no legally enforceable maintenance agreement
Taxed as separate individuals
No deduction available for maintenance payments
Where one spouse can show they are maintaining the other, the married credit can be claimed but not the married rate band

21. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Year of separation
Assessable spouse
Taxed on their own full income for the year plus spouse’s income to date of separation
Entitled to married credit and married rate band
Non-assessable spouse
Taxed on own income from date of separation to 31 December
Entitled to single credit and single rate band

22. Taxation of Married Couples / Civil Partnerships
Divorce
Couple must be separated for 4 years before they can divorce
Tax arrangements are put in place after separation rather than divorce, usually
Can continue to be taxed in the same way after divorce as during separation:
Single assessment
Joint assessment