Non-Resident Landlord Withholding Tax (NLWT)
Tenants
If non-resident landlords engage a collection agent, the tenant will pay rent to the collection agent. The tenant will then have no further role. If the tenant pays rent directly to the non-resident landlord, the tenant must engage with the Non-Resident Landlord Withholding Tax (NLWT) system.
The tenant can access the NLWT system in myAccount or in the Revenue Online Service (ROS). In this system, tenants can make Rental Notifications (RNs) when rent is paid to a non-resident landlord. As part of the RN, tenants withhold and remit 20% of the rent payment to Revenue. This withheld sum will be available to the non-resident landlord as a credit when they submit their annual return.
Making Rental Notifications
When making a rental payment, the tenant must submit an RN and remit 20% of the rent payment to Revenue. The remaining 80% of the rent payment can then be made to the non-resident landlord.
As a tenant, there are three options to submit an RN.
- Single RN input.
- Set up a repeat RN at monthly intervals.
- or
- Bulk upload of RNs through a CSV file (although available to tenants, this facility is more likely to be used by collection agents managing multiple properties).
As a tenant, to make RNs you will need to submit the following information regarding the rent you pay:
- your non-resident landlord's name and address
- your non-resident landlord's property's Local Property Tax (LPT) ID
- and
- your non-resident landlord's email and phone number.
Full details are provided in the NLWT Tax and Duty Manual Part 45-01-04a.
Bulk upload of Rental Notifications.
Batch uploads of RNs can be completed by uploading a CSV file.
Setting up repeat Rental Notifications
The NLWT system provides a facility for tenants to set up a repeat RN. This process creates an instruction to generate an RN at monthly intervals. The instruction allows for payment, or remittance of the deduction, from the tenant's bank account.
The system provides for monthly intervals between RNs with the first debit date being at least eight days in the future. This means that, in practice, the first RN will be a single RN input. Subsequent RNs can be set up as repeat RNs, thus minimising administration work on tenants.
Searching Rental Notifications
Search and report facilities are available in ROS and myAccount for tenants.
Amending Rental Notifications
As a tenant, you can amend an RN. You should select the RN within the search functionality. You may, within certain restrictions, amend some or all of the fields of an RN. If you want to delete an existing RN, you will need to change the payment amount to zero.
Generating acknowledgements (PDFs of RNs)
An option is available to generate a 'Rental Notification Acknowledgement' PDF for each:
- individual RN submitted
- or
- group of RNs submitted.
Tenants can give the PDF acknowledgement of the RN to their non-resident landlord as a record of tax deducted.
Next: 2023 filing arrangements for non-resident landlords and collection agents