Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2017
60. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons in receipt of the incapacitated child tax credit for each year since 2010; the detail and nature of the incapacity of the qualifying child; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14608/17]
View answer61. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of applications received for the incapacitated child tax credit for each year since 2010; the number approved and rejected respectively, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14609/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 61 together.
The legislation governing entitlement to the incapacitated child tax credit is contained in section 465 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.
The legislation provides that an individual is entitled to the tax credit for a year of assessment if he or she proves that at any time during the year of assessment, he or she has 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 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.
I am advised by Revenue that a Costs of Tax Expenditures Table is available on the Revenue Statistics webpage at http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/statistics/costs-expenditures.html. The information provides an annual breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer and the associated numbers for the "Additional Credit for Incapacitated Child" for the years 2004 to 2014, the most recent year for which complete data are available. Updates will be published in due course when data for more recent years become available.
I am advised by Revenue that it does not hold information that would be readily accessible on the nature of the relevant incapacities, nor are there statistics available in respect of the number of applications received for the incapacitated child tax credit that were unsuccessful.
