Irish Real Estate Fund declarations

A regime for the taxation of Irish Real Estate Funds (IREFs) was introduced by Finance Act 2016.

IREF withholding tax need not be applied on the happening of an IREF taxable event in respect of certain unit holders who have made an appropriate declaration. The absence of a properly made declaration triggers a charge to IREF withholding tax, which is only refundable in certain limited circumstances (e.g. DTA relief). The authorised declaration forms on which to make the relevant declaration are now available in Tax and Duty Manual Part 27-02B-01.

As the IREF regime is new, it is likely that it will take a number of weeks or months for IREFs, particularly those with a number of unit holders, to get the appropriate declarations in place. Therefore in respect of:

• IREF taxable events which occur before 30 June 2017
• a unit holder who would not be a specified person if the appropriate declaration was in place
• where the appropriately completed declaration is in place by 1 July 2017

IREF withholding tax need not be applied.

31 January 2017