Can you advise the best course of action for a young person starting out as self-employed. My son is hoping to become self-employed in the near future but I am worried that he may not be entitled to benefits such as unemployment benefit if he does not succeed. I also wonder if he will be covered for the State pension when the time comes.

He has quite a good job now but is very keen to start out on his own.

Ms EK, Dublin

We always worry about our children but it would be a great shame if we were to hold them back from reaching for their dreams. Going it alone is certainly risky, especially in the early years but, if no one were taking such risks, the Irish economy would have little prospect of returning to solid growth.

Most business enterprises here are small businesses and, while it is normally the larger and multinational operations that garner the headlines, they have less firm ties to this economy and can always move if circumstances change.

Your son might have a good job now but the “job for life” scenario that was normal for many parents has effectively disappeared. People are changing jobs or even career paths several times and solid employers of today can quickly become outdated shrinking industries of tomorrow. Even in the public service things are changing, though some might wish it were at a faster pace and more radical.

The pity is that for all its pious plaints about getting Ireland back to work, this Government – much like its predecessors – has done little to encourage genuine entrepreneurship.

Notably, it effectively penalises those who go out on their own by disbarring them from eligibility for unemployment benefit should their ventures fail. For people with mortgages and family, this is a significant discouragement to taking that step out on your own.

It is never great to embark on a new business weighing up the price of failure but, as his mother, I can understand your concern for his wellbeing.

While your son would not qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit as a self-employed person, he might be able to claim it if, at some point in the four years before his business collapsed, he was paying Class A PRSI payments as an employee – such as in his current job. Payments dating back more than four years don’t count.

If that does not apply, he might be eligible for Jobseeker’s Allowance, but that is a means-tested payment. Similar rules apply, obviously to medical card entitlement etc.

In relation to entitlement to a pension, as a self-employed person, your son would be paying Class S PRSI. While this allows access only to limited benefits, they do include the State contributory pension – as long as sufficient payments have been made. Class S PRSI is paid on gross income, less allowable expenses, at a rate of 4 per cent.

Losing out on property purchase costs

I bought some investment properties years ago. I read at the time that the costs of buying (legal costs, stamp duty) could be deducted from the profit when properties were sold again, before calculating the capital gains tax (CGT) liability. Now that there is unlikely to be any profit on selling at this time, how can the costs mentioned above be claimed for?

Ms AMcE, email

If there is no capital gain, the bottom line is that there is nothing against which you can claim those costs for the purposes of assessing capital gains tax.

The rules on CGT allow for costs of purchasing and selling the asset to be offset against any capital gain before calculating your capital gains tax liability. However, you cannot use such costs to exacerbate a loss on the transaction which could then be offset against the sale of other assets at a gain either this year or in later years.

There is provision for setting costs involved in renting out such properties against the rental income received before determining income tax liability but this includes only costs related to the letting and not to the original purchase of the property.

Are Vodafone paper certificates useless? I have Vodafone share paper certificates in a file dating from 2002 to 2004. Are these shares worthless?

Also; where can I get forms to claim back tax paid on UK share dividends?

Mr DO'B, Kildare

Your Vodafone shares are certainly not worthless, although, assuming they were acquired through your original purchase of Eircom shares, you might still be struggling to make a gain on the transaction. However, that was back in 2001 and you say your shares date from 2002 and 2004 so you might even be up on the deal.

But it is true that the actual certificates you hold are probably now out of date as there has been much activity in Vodafone shares of the past decade with share consolidations, special dividends etc.

As a result, you will need to contact Computershare, Vodafone's share registrar, to find out how many current Vodafone shares you actually hold and what has happened to any payments that were made by the company to you as a shareholder as a result of the Verizon deal and other corporate actions.

When contacting Computershare, you will need to quote your SRN, or shareholder reference number – a unique identifier that relates specifically to your shareholding. You should be able to find the number on communications to you from Vodafone back in 2002 and 2004.

It is likely, if you have not engaged with the company since those years, that your shareholding is now held for you in electronic form but, until you are assured about the status of your shareholding, I would certainly hold on to those existing, if outdated, share certificates, as paper certificates are a proof of ownership and are difficult and costly to replace. Proving ownership of your shareholding without your certificate or SRN just gets messy.

You can contact Computershare in Ireland on (01) 447 5566 or by letter to Computershare Investor Services (Ireland) Limited, Heron House, Corrig Road, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18.

On the second part of your question, it is not possible to claim back dividend withholding tax levied by the UK government. The position of the Revenue is that you consider the “net” dividend received by you as your gross dividend for the purposes of Irish taxation.

You must convert these dividends to euro at the appropriate date and then return those sums for Irish income tax and, where applicable, universal social charge and PRSI.

Send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara St, D2, or email dcoyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice.