I appear to have lost a share certificate relating to shares I own in Irish Permanent. Can you tell me, (a) how do I go about replacing it, and (b) can it be used by anyone who might find it?
Mr C.T., email
None of us is as precise as we would like to be when it comes to filing things away - whether that is share certificates, insurance policies or Christmas card lists. Unfortunately, in the case of shares it is impossible to deal in stock without presenting the certificate. The certificate is the proof of ownership of the shares and it must be submitted when shares are being sold in order that it can be passed on to the new owner of the shares. Each block of shares is covered only by one certificate.
The first thing to do is to report the loss. This should be done to the registrar of the particular company. In the case of Irish Permanent, I believe that PricewaterhouseCoopers is the registrar. Any company should be able to tell you simply and quickly the identity of the registrar and how to contact it. As soon as the share certificate is reported lost it will be invalidated.
This first contact with the registrar needs to be in writing. Remember, you are dealing with the loss of an official document and, obviously, everything will need to be properly recorded.
The registrar will ask you to sign a letter of indemnity and, I gather, might also require you to guarantee this letter with an insurance company. If you deal with a stockbroker on a regular basis, this can all be done through them.
When these documents are returned to the registrar and the details verified, especially in relation to identity, a new share certificate will be sent out. I understand that most registrars will charge for this service. That charge may well vary between one and another and could depend on the size of the holding. One stockbroker indicated a charge of between £10 and £30 would be likely.
I hope you might be able to provide details of all the various costs involved when transferring a mortgage from one lender to another. I thought it would be a relatively simple transaction with costs in the region of £200 to £300 but I recently received information from my solicitor regarding changing my lender which quoted a figure of £1,300. This is higher than the costs involved in buying the house new four years ago. In this age of lender competition I cannot understand this.
I now feel locked in to my lender and that the charges involved are there solely to prevent such movement and ensure that the status quo of property transaction remains balanced in favour of lenders and solicitors.
Mr J.M., Dublin 9
In very simple terms, the costs involved in moving a mortgage from one lender to another depend almost entirely on the type of mortgage held. If you took out a variable rate mortgage four years ago when you bought your brand new home, the figures involved in the transfer should be pretty much in line with those you mention in your letter.
These break down into legal fees and valuation costs. While these may vary between institutions, it should only be to a limited degree. A valuation will generally cost between £50 and £75 and will be required by any new lender. The basic legal fees for a simple transfer will come to around £200.
Of course, if you are using your own solicitor, you face a bill from them in addition to that from your new lender's legal advisers.
However, there should be no other cost to the borrower and there is no question of any penalty being liable in the case of variable rate mortgages.
The same cannot be said of fixed-rate mortgages. While these do offer the advantage of greater security in knowing the rate cannot rise beyond that agreed at the start of the mortgage, extricating yourself from one should rates fall appreciably as they have done in the last four years can be a costly business.
Basically, in addition to the costs outlined above, you face a penalty charge levied by the original lender for breaking the agreement signed earlier. The reason put forward for this by lenders is that, on the money they originally lent to you, they are paying whatever was the prevailing interest rate at the time the money was borrowed. Quite what that rate of interest was would depend on the length of time for which you agreed to fix the rate.
You don't say what type of mortgage you hold but it would certainly appear from the figure you quote that it must be a fixed-rate product. If that is true, you will simply have to weigh up the cost of changing to a new lender against the savings you might expect to make given the applicable interest rate with your new lender. Remember, such savings might be affected by future rate movements between the various lenders.
My wife and I are now retired in Ireland having worked in the US for 20 years. Can you please advise me if US Social Security pensions are taxable by the Irish Government? Is the taxation affected by citizenship, nationality, resident or domicile? Our social security is paid into still-open checking accounts in the US. Is this legal?
Mr S. and Mrs C.H., Dublin
The situation in relation to US Social Security pensions has always been a thorn in the side of accountants and Revenue officials on both sides of the Atlantic. When the two governments got together recently to hammer out the details of the new double-taxation convention between the two countries, they recognised the need to settle the issue for once and for all.
As a result, it was agreed that such pensions would be taxed in Ireland where the people drawing those pensions were resident in Ireland for tax purposes. This position applies whether the recipient is a US citizen or not.
Previously, the US insisted on taxing Social Security pensions of non-resident aliens. This tax - levied at 25.5 per cent - was essentially a withholding tax and led to a situation in some instances where the pensioners were paying a higher rate of tax than would have applied if they had been taxed in one jurisdiction only.
What happened under the agreement is that the US sanctioned the transfer of taxing rights from the US to Ireland on the basis that such pensions would be subject to Irish income tax. The Government has amended Section 200 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to remove any doubt over that issue.
As to whether there is any problem with having the pensions paid into accounts maintained in the US, I do not see any. From the point of view of the Revenue Commissioners, the money is treated as foreign income under Case III of Schedule D of the income tax code, regardless of the location of the account into which it is paid, as long as that account is outside the boundaries of the State.
In relation to the influence of residence, citizenship, nationality and domicile on the tax situation, citizenship and nationality are irrelevant in this case as the double-tax convention applies regardless of these factors. Residence, in tax parlance, is defined as spending more than 183 days in the given tax year in the State or 280 days in this and the previous tax years. One can also be "ordinarily resident" as distinct from resident. This applies once you have been resident in the State for three consecutive tax years and kicks in at the start of the fourth tax year. Domicile is a complex legal concept but generally refers to the country you consider to be your natural home.
If one is both resident and domiciled in Ireland, you are taxed here on all your income worldwide. If you are resident but not domiciled or ordinarily resident in the State, you are taxed here on all Irish and British income together with foreign income remitted to Ireland. In your case, even if you came into the latter category, your US Social Security pension income would be treated as income once it were repatriated into Ireland, as I assume it is at some point to meet living expenses.
In the normal course of events, income not repatriated here by someone resident here but claiming domicile in the US would not be taxed here. However, under the terms of the double-taxation convention, I believe US Social Security pensions are taxable in the State once you are resident here.
If you remain in any doubt, I suggest, you take professional advice.
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