Vol. 456 No. 8
53 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Education the reason depreciation is not taken into consideration by her Department in assessing income for third-level maintenance grant purposes in view of the fact that depreciation is taken into consideration in assessing farmers' incomes by the Revenue Commissioners and most other agencies; her views on whether this is very discriminatory against farmers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14762/95]
There is no automatic relationship between the criteria applied by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of collecting income tax and those applied by other agencies in determining means for the purposes of providing Exchequer grants.
For instance, the tax system allows for deductions in relation to mortgage interest and VHI payments. These are not allowable as deductions in the student support means test.
The disallowance of depreciation applies to all self-employed persons, not just farmers.
