Two heterosexual Irish men married as a same-sex couple to avoid paying off 50,000 euros inheritance tax on a real estate.
The story shows some exciting loopholes in the Irish civil law, if heterosexual people may avoid paying their taxes through the right of same-sex couples to marry. On the other hand, if the taxes are high, then citizens and taxpayers have the right to find all legal solutions to decrease their tax burden. In this case, the aim of the marriage is not the same, what was the objective of the legislators, who allowed gay marriage.
The original story is that an 83 years old man (Matt Murphy) intended to leave his house to his carer, the 58 years old Michael O'Sullivan. This is a simple and straightforward process; however, after the owner's death, the new landlord should have to pay a 50,000 euros worth tax bill for the inheritance.
This story is not about two tax cheaters but shows the power of friendship. O'Sullivan became the older man's carer after his second relationship broke up. They became friends, and the younger carer took Murphy to meet his friends and parties. Their relation, as friends, started almost 30 years ago.
During this time, both men went through some tough times. O'Sullivan became homeless, and Murphy suffers from "giant cell arteritis on the optic nerve. The 83 years old could not afford the services of a carer, so he offered his home in exchange. The man invited O'Sullivan to live in his house and told him that he would leave his house to the carer, so he will not be homeless after his friend's death. Meanwhile, O' Sullivan had not got enough money to pay the hefty inheritance tax, so he would have to sell the real estate to be able to pay the burden. Then a friend of theirs was joking with the idea of the marriage as a gay couple to avoid paying the Irish inheritance tax. So, they decided to marry. The same-sex heterosexual couple married in Dublin, the ceremony was followed by a short dinner for five. The wife said after the wedding to Guardian that they love each other as friends.
Ireland was the first country in the European Union to legalise the marriage of same-sex couples by popular vote. In 2015, 62% of the Irish voted yes and 38% to no. The massive majority of yes votes showed, how the once overwhelmingly conservative Irish people changed during the4 last decades. The people disobeyed the order from the Catholic Church for the first time.
Are you interested to live and marry in the European Union? Ireland is among those EU Member States, where same-sex couples can wed. Ask for more information, as several jurisdictions of the European Union offer affordable residency and citizenship through investment solutions also for the members of the LGBT community!