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Tax Credits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2024

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Questions (121, 136, 148, 155, 159)

Niamh Smyth

Question:

121. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo and Galway, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4280/24]

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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

Question:

136. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, and Kildare, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4249/24]

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James O'Connor

Question:

148. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Finance the number of earners in Cork who will benefit from the USC reductions announced in budget 2024; the number of renters in Cork who benefitted from the rent tax scheme in 2023; how many are eligible to claim the same in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4568/24]

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Willie O'Dea

Question:

155. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork and Kerry, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4253/24]

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Barry Cowen

Question:

159. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, Longford, Meath and Louth and Kildare, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4255/24]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 136, 148, 155 and 159 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.

I am advised by Revenue that the Rent Tax Credit statistics currently available refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayers. Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers is not yet available. Statistics covering all taxpayers will be available in Q2 2024.

Claims in respect of the 2022 and 2023 years of assessment can be made by PAYE taxpayers by submitting an Income Tax return for that year. For claims relating to 2023, PAYE taxpayers had the option of claiming the rent tax credit due to them as rent is incurred through Revenue’s Online Service or at the end of the year through their Income Tax return. The same option is available for claims relating to 2024.

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 advised that as of 25 January 2024, 453,777 Rent Tax Credit claims have been made by 310,891 taxpayer units consisting of:

- 136,660 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022 only,

- 102,473 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2023,

- 5,413 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2024,

- 41,415 taxpayer units that made claims for 2023 only,

- 5,678 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2023 and 2024,

- 4,591 taxpayer units that made claims for 2024 only,

- 14,661 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Data for claims relating to number of PAYE taxpayer units is set out by county in the table below.

 

2022 Year of Assessment

2023 Year of Assessment

2024 Year of Assessment

CARLOW

             2,346

          1,479

             247

CAVAN

             2,139

          1,355

             210

CLARE

             3,243

          2,086

             391

CORK

           29,357

       17,905

          3,231

DONEGAL

             3,263

          2,046

             363

DUBLIN

         122,109

       78,051

       14,449

GALWAY

           18,560

       10,936

          2,103

KERRY

             3,952

          2,380

             381

KILDARE

             9,181

          5,894

          1,076

KILKENNY

             2,740

          1,830

             329

LAOIS

             2,027

          1,301

             263

LEITRIM

                 848

             485

                91

LIMERICK

           12,697

          7,299

          1,315

LONGFORD

             1,502

             939

             167

LOUTH

             3,519

          2,355

             443

MAYO

             3,712

          2,361

             460

MEATH

             4,819

          3,228

             577

MONAGHAN

             1,794

          1,175

             208

OFFALY

             2,108

          1,330

             246

ROSCOMMON

             1,680

          1,060

             209

SLIGO

             3,036

          1,759

             314

TIPPERARY

             4,495

          2,860

             493

WATERFORD

             5,011

          3,171

             591

WESTMEATH

             3,752

          2,405

             428

WEXFORD

             4,054

          2,539

             449

WICKLOW

             3,155

          2,056

             393

Not Currently Available

             4,108

          3,942

             916

Total

259,207

164,227

30,343

In relation Deputy O'Connor's query as to the number of persons eligible to claim the rent tax credit in 2024, I am advised that, in general, Revenue does not have advance information on the eligibility of taxpayers to claim the Rent Tax Credit given that this is dependent on future rental patterns and other factors.

Finally, in relation to Deputy O'Connor's query concerning USC, I am advised by Revenue that it is estimated that a total of 1.6 million taxpayer units will benefit from the USC measures outlined in Budget 2024. A taxpayer unit counts jointly assessed couples as one unit. I am further advised by Revenue that this and other estimates relating to Budget changes to income tax policy are provided using Revenue’s micro-simulation income tax model, Tax Modeller, and that, while this model uses taxpayer unit level data, estimates broken down by taxpayer location are not generated as part of the modelling process.

Question No. 122 answered with Question No. 94.
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