Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 April 2022
74. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Finance the cost to the Exchequer on an annual basis of the tuition tax relief for undergraduate courses in public higher institutes of education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21355/22]
View answerSection 473A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for income tax relief in respect of qualifying tuition fees paid by an individual for a third level education course, including a postgraduate course. The relief is granted at the standard rate of income tax (currently 20%), where an individual pays tuition fees for an approved course, whether on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another individual. The relief is restricted to tuition fees and excludes other education costs such as administration fees, examination fees, capitation fees and any element of the fees met by a grant, scholarship or employer contribution.
All courses provided by publicly funded universities, colleges and institutes of higher education in Ireland are approved for the purposes of the relief. All courses provided by publicly funded or accredited universities and institutions in other EU Member States or in the UK are also approved for the purposes of the relief. This includes courses provided by colleges or institutions through distance education into Ireland. Private colleges in Ireland and private distance education colleges based in the EU or the UK must operate in accordance with a code of standards which has been approved by the Minister for Education and Skills.
I am advised by Revenue that the annual cost of tax relief on approved training courses or third level education fees are set out in Revenue’s Cost of Tax Expenditures Publication, which is available at: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/tax-expenditures/costs-expenditures.aspx (See ‘Approved Training Courses/Third Level Education Fees’).
The information included in the statistics at present is for 2004 to 2018. Tax returns for 2019 were filed in late 2020 and the data from these are now being processed and statistics will be updated shortly at the above link.
This data is summarised below.
|
Year |
Cost (€m) |
|
2004 |
11.1 |
|
2005 |
14.3 |
|
2006 |
15.7 |
|
2007 |
18.1 |
|
2008 |
19.9 |
|
2009 |
20.6 |
|
2010 |
19.4 |
|
2011 |
14.5 |
|
2012 |
13.5 |
|
2013 |
12.5 |
|
2014 |
12.7 |
|
2015 |
12.9 |
|
2016 |
13.9 |
|
2017 |
15.2 |
|
2018 |
17.2 |
I am further advised by Revenue that a breakdown of claims for tax relief on tuition fees by private colleges, public colleges, undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses are not available, as this information is not captured separately on tax returns.
