Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 January 2016
97. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if he will amend the regulations for the single person child carer such that if the tax credit is not taken up in full by the primary claimant before the end of the tax year, the unused tax credit may be transferred to the secondary claimant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1726/16]
View answerI recall that during the course of the debate on Finance Bill 2014 at Report Stage, the Deputy tabled an amendment proposing to extend the transferability of all or part of the Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC) to the non-principal carer parent, where it has not been utilised in full by the principal carer.
The Deputy will be aware that I agreed that a review of the proposal would be undertaken by my officials and the full review was included in the Report on Taxation Expenditures, published on Budget day, which details the outcomes of Tax Expenditure Reviews completed between October 2014 and September 2015. This report can be accessed online at http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2016/Documents/Tax_Expenditures_Report_pub.pdf
The review of the SPCCC comprised of:
- A review of the rationale for the replacement of the One-Parent Family Tax Credit with the Single Person Child Carer Credit.
- An outline of proposals relating to the transfer of any unused part of the SPCCC to the non-principal carer parent.
- Consideration of relevant legal issues.
- Consideration of relevant administrative, operational and data protection issues, and,
- Consideration of relevant budgetary implications.
The review identified that a transferable credit could only be effectively administered by Revenue with the full co-operation of the primary claimant, as it would require the primary claimant to file a tax return, provide information on the other parent (or secondary claimant) and consent to the release of personal information to the other parent (or secondary claimant).
As the SPCCC currently allows for the credit to be transferred in full to a qualifying secondary claimant, I am satisfied that the SPCCC provides for an appropriate level of transferability to secondary claimants, taking into account the various issues identified in the published review.
