Vol. 563 No. 4
238 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Finance the assistance available to persons whose spouses have died and who have to employ domestic workers in order to help in rearing children and maintaining households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8304/03]
I understand that the Minister for Social and Family Affairs has been asked an identical question. I will confine my reply to taxation issues only.
There is no specific tax relief available to parents in relation to the costs incurred for child care and there are no plans at present to introduce such relief. There are, however, a number of provisions within the income tax code to assist widowed persons including those with dependent children. In the year of bereavement a widowed person may receive a personal tax credit of €3,040, which is equivalent in value to the married person's tax credit. Following the year of bereavement, a widowed parent with a qualifying child or children may qualify for the one-parent family tax credit of €1,520 in addition to the personal tax credit of €1,520. A further tax credit, the widowed parent tax credit, is available on a sliding scale for the first five tax years following the year of bereavement as follows: Year 1–€2,600; Year 2–€2,100; Year 3–€1,600; Year 4–€1,100; Year 5–€ 600.
Therefore, in the first year following bereavement, a widowed parent is entitled to aggregate tax credits of €5,640, comprising a single personal credit of €1,520, a one-parent family credit of €1,520 and a widowed parent credit of €2,600.
