Pearse Doherty
Question:68. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost of the rent tax credit for 2025, 2026 and 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40545/24]
View answerWednesday, 9 October 2024
Questions (68)
Written answers
The Rent Tax Credit (RTC), 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.
For 2022 and 2023, the maximum estimated cost of the RTC was €200 million, based on the value of the RTC being €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple.
In Finance Act (No.2) 2023 the credit was increased to €750 for a single person, and €1,500 for a jointly assessed couple. It was also amended to allow parents to claim for students in “digs” or rent-a-room accommodation, these changes were estimated to cost an additional €88 million for the year 2024 over the 2022 and 2023 costs.
In this year’s Budget I announced I was increasing the value of the credit by €250, bringing it to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple for 2025. This increase is estimated to cost an additional €65 million for 2025 over the original 2024 cost.
As the RTC sunsets on 31 December 2025, there is no estimated cost in respect of 2026 and 2027.
Finally, Revenue has advised me that the actual cost of the RTC for the year 2022 (the most recent year in respect of which data are available) was €156 million. However, it should be noted that further claims in respect of 2022 may yet arise.