Q&A

My friend in England believes she was entitled to Irish Permanent shares but that she missed the cut-off date because of changes of address. When I enquired on her behalf, the group confirmed this although they could trace her account. Is the Irish Permanent able legally to subsume the shares?

Mr K.C., Ennistymon, Co Clare

It is now more than three years since the flotation of Irish Permanent and, in a simple answer to your question, they are not only entitled to cancel the shares; they are legally obliged to do so.

The three-year deadline for the cancellation of shares was activated in accordance with the group's conversion statement, which was drawn up prior to its voting to demutualise. That conversion statement would reflect the terms of the 1989 Building Societies Act, which governs the conditions for demutualisation.

At the beginning of May last year, more than four months before the three-year deadline, the Irish Permanent says it wrote to everyone who had not claimed their free shares by that time. These letters were sent to the most recent address available on each relevant account. This was in addition to advertising campaigns it had run at different points over the period since its debut as a public company.

The only exception was in relation to those accounts carrying a "no correspondence" mandate. This mandate was initiated by around 10,000 account holders on their accounts and tied the group's hands. Once the mandate was in existence, it says it was not entitled to break it by contacting those account holders; only the account holder themselves could end the mandate.

Unfortunately, at this stage, your friend has lost out and has no comeback as far as I can see.

I work for an American multinational and spent the month of February working in the US. I have heard that I can claim back my Irish taxes for this month. If true, how do I go about it and am I liable to pay American taxes?Mr E.F., emailYou don't state whether, during the month you worked in the US, you were paid by your Irish base or the US parent company. It does make a slight difference but does not absolve you of the need to pay income tax. The only question is where?If you were paid from Ireland in the normal manner during the month you spent Stateside, the income will be taxable in Ireland in the same way as all your other earnings.If, however, you were paid by the parent company within the US, you may find yourself facing a tax bill in the US. The US has taxing rights on income paid by domestically-based companies.However, it is unlikely it would invoke such a right for the sake of one month's income. Whether it does or not, you will find that the income will be taxable in Ireland. If you have been taxed twice over, you will be entitled to a tax credit subsequently.For further information on residency and its implications for taxation, you can contact the Revenue Commissioners residence section in Nenagh, Co Tipperary on 067-33533.What right has Canada Life to decide who benefits from any decision to demutualise and to exclude a significant portion of its pension and life policy holders?Mr J.C., DublinYou are not alone in questioning the process by which Canada Life and, indeed, other life assurers and building societies determine who are the winners and losers under any windfall issue. While it may do little to assuage any anger at the perceived injustice in the short term, the truth is that neither Canada Life nor any former or subsequent candidates for demutualisation retain full discretion in deciding who benefits from such moves.They must conform to rules enshrined in law, which control the entire process of demutualisation.As explained previously, the basic difference is between those policy and account holders who are considered to be members of or shareholders in the company as against those who are considered to be customers of the company. It is little comfort, I know, but, in this case, the company's hands are tied. With the change in capital gains tax allowances to £1,000 per person, would I be advised to purchase shares in both mine and my wife's name to enable us to avail of the £2,000 allowance on any profits on disposal?Mr E.F., emailIf you already own shares, you can either transfer that ownership to both names or sell/bed & breakfast carefully to ensure you maximise your allowances.In the case of new shares, it would appear to be easier for the purposes of capital gains to register the shares in joint names under the new regime.However, bear in mind that joint ownership of an asset brings with it the prospect of that asset being considered against debts in certain circumstances such as bankruptcies.