Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018
216. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Finance his plans to make changes to the single parent tax credit; if he will consider putting in place an amendment to the rules by which both parents deemed to be providing substantial care to a child can be in receipt of this tax credit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45764/18]
View answerThe Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC) of €1,650 per annum is given where a person has a “qualifying child” resident with him or her for the whole or greater part of the year of assessment and the other conditions of the relief are also satisfied.
Only one credit is available is respect of any qualifying child, and an individual who is a primary claimant in respect of more than one qualifying child can only receive one credit.
Agreement as to who will be the primary carer of a child is a matter for the parents or guardians. Where the custody of a child is shared equally between two individuals, the legislation provides that the primary claimant shall be the person in receipt of the child benefit payment from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
In circumstances where the primary carer cannot utilise the credit – for example, because of insufficient taxable income - the primary carer may relinquish the credit and a secondary claimant may claim it. The requirement for a primary claimant to relinquish the credit before a claim from a secondary claimant can be considered is necessary, as only one credit is available in respect of a qualifying child or children and depending on individual circumstances, an individual might wish to retain the credit in order to offset any tax liability that might arise as a result of a review of their income tax liabilities in any of the years concerned.
On the question of whether there are any plans to amend the current rules of the SPCCC, I appreciate that it may not always be a straightforward determination between parents or guardians, but there are no firm plans at present. That said, on foot of engagement with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in 2018, I have asked my officials to look at this measure in 2019 and in that context, any proposals for how to better allocate the tax credit are always welcome.
In the meantime, I am satisfied that the SPCCC is targeting limited resources to where they are most needed, noting that in 2016 the credit costs €90.3m and was claimed by 65,700 families.
