Tax Credits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Questions (157, 185)

Eoin Ó Broin

Question:

157. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Finance the number of renters who have availed of the renters' tax credit in 2023, providing a breakdown by county; the average amount claimed, by county; and the total amount claimed to date in 2023. [40138/23]

Richard Bruton

Question:

185. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons who have claimed the new tax credit on unsupported private rents to date in 2023; the numbers that Revenue estimates are eligible; if he has considered whether obstacles exist to its full take-up, or whether information has not reached all eligible persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40736/23]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 185 together.

The Rent Tax Credit, as provided for in section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA 1997), was introduced by the Finance Act 2022 and may be claimed in respect of qualifying rent paid in 2022 and subsequent years to end-2025.

Tax refunds can be requested within four years after the end of the tax year to which the claim relates, so it is possible that eligible persons may not claim the Rent Tax Credit in respect of 2022 until 2026.

I am advised by Revenue that the Rent Tax Credit statistics currently available refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayers for the 2022 tax year and the 2023 tax year to-date. Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers are not yet available as these taxpayers’ returns are generally submitted later in the year. The statutory filing date for the 2022 tax return for self-assessed taxpayers is 31 October 2023.

Claims in respect of the 2022 year of assessment can be made by PAYE taxpayers by submitting an Income Tax return for that year. For claims relating to 2023, PAYE taxpayers have the option of claiming the rent tax credit due to them either as rent is incurred or at the end of the year through their Income Tax return.

Rent Tax Credit claims are made are on a ‘taxpayer unit’ basis. A taxpayer unit is either an individual with any personal status who is singly assessed or a couple in a marriage or civil partnership who have elected for joint assessment.

I am further advised that as of 13 September 2023, over 286,419 Rent Tax Credit claims have been made by 252,317 taxpayer units consisting of:

(i) 202,982 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022 only,

(ii) 34,102 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2023,

(iii) 15,233 taxpayer units that made claims for 2023 only,

The total amount of Rent Tax Credit claimed for the tax year 2022 to-date amounts to some €133m. In order to receive a taxable benefit in relation to the RTC, a taxpayer must have an Income Tax liability greater than the RTC claimed in order to offset against it. Therefore, in some cases, taxpayers may have claimed the full RTC amount but only had an income tax liability such that they received or offset a benefit of lesser amount. As a result, taxpayers have offset or received a taxable benefit of €113m regarding the RTC.

The total claimed to date for the tax year 2023 amounts to some €30m. However, a figure for the total amount offset against tax or received as a tax refund will not be available until after the end of the year.

Data for claims relating to PAYE taxpayers for tax years 2022 and 2023 are set out by county in the tables below.

Rent Tax Credit claims relating to tax year 2022 as at 13 September 2023

Year of Assessment	County	Number of taxpayer units claiming RTC	Average RTC claimed by taxpayer unit
2022	Carlow	2,144	€576.79
2022	Cavan	1,920	€612.03
2022	Clare	2,921	€580.41
2022	Cork	26,969	€561.52
2022	Donegal	2,967	€597.89
2022	Dublin	112,273	€548.29
2022	Galway	17,080	€549.69
2022	Kerry	3,528	€574.91
2022	Kildare	8,340	€581.55
2022	Kilkenny	2,468	€581.08
2022	Laois	1,827	€592.22
2022	Leitrim	769	€575.31
2022	Limerick	11,625	€558.79
2022	Longford	1,382	€602.27
2022	Louth	3,154	€575.69
2022	Mayo	3,376	€585.41
2022	Meath	4,307	€596.16
2022	Monaghan	1,604	€591.42
2022	Offaly	1,919	€595.92
2022	Roscommon	1,535	€602.47
2022	Sligo	2,778	€552.55
2022	Tipperary	4,038	€590.33
2022	Waterford	4,539	€567.32
2022	Westmeath	3,450	€590.62
2022	Wexford	3,689	€596.93
2022	Wicklow	2,824	€597.80
2022	Not yet available	3,658	€557.90
Total		237,084	-

Rent Tax Credit claims relating to tax year 2023 as at 13 September 2023

Year of Assessment	County	Number of taxpayer units claiming RTC	Average RTC claimed by taxpayer unit
2023	Carlow	450	€618.50
2023	Cavan	433	€653.46
2023	Clare	668	€650.14
2023	Cork	5448	€613.06
2023	Donegal	721	€618.70
2023	Dublin	22081	€607.76
2023	Galway	3465	€598.45
2023	Kerry	771	€641.72
2023	Kildare	1847	€638.83
2023	Kilkenny	591	€626.74
2023	Laois	461	€639.00
2023	Leitrim	168	€590.85
2023	Limerick	2229	€616.89
2023	Longford	299	€648.66
2023	Louth	785	€628.27
2023	Mayo	784	€627.05
2023	Meath	1057	€651.96
2023	Monaghan	380	€651.20
2023	Offaly	449	€657.44
2023	Roscommon	368	€660.30
2023	Sligo	602	€620.70
2023	Tipperary	879	€626.53
2023	Waterford	1048	€597.95
2023	Westmeath	845	€666.06
2023	Wexford	818	€606.66
2023	Wicklow	698	€652.16
2023	Not yet available	990	€634.81
Total		49,335	-

In relation to Deputy Bruton's question on whether information has not reached all eligible persons, Revenue is conducting an information campaign to highlight the ease of use of the online myAccount system and to raise awareness of a range of key tax credits and reliefs available to taxpayers including the rent tax credit.