I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 167 together.
The legislation governing entitlement to the incapacitated child tax credit is contained in section 465 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, as amended. The legislation provides that an individual is entitled to the tax credit for a year if he or she proves that at any time during that year he or she had a child who:
- is under 18 years of age and is permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity, or
- if over the age of 18 years at the beginning of the year, is permanently incapacitated from maintaining himself/herself and had become so permanently incapacitated either before reaching 21 years of age or after that age but while receiving full-time instruction at any university, college, school or other educational establishment.
A child under 18 is regarded as permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity only if that infirmity is such that if the child were over 18 there would be a reasonable expectation that he/she would be incapacitated from maintaining himself/herself.
In order to establish entitlement to the credit in respect of any such child, medical evidence is required to confirm both the extent of the incapacity and whether the incapacity permanently prevents the child from being able in the long term to maintain himself or herself independently when over the age of 18 years. In the case mentioned by the Deputy, to date the Revenue Commissioners have not been supplied with the required medical certificate confirming that the child in question will not be in a position to maintain himself independently when over the age of 18 years.
I am further informed by the Revenue Commissioners that 17,992 individuals are currently in receipt of the incapacitated child tax credit. However, the Commissioners do not have a breakdown of figures by reference to the different categories of disabilities of the children in respect of whom the credit is given.
