Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2016
185. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Finance the schemes available through his Department by way of tax relief or other measures for persons who carry out home improvement works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30522/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides for an income tax credit for homeowners or landlords who carry out repair, renovation or improvement works on their property. The aim of the Incentive is to support tax compliant building contractors by moving activity out of the shadow economy into the legitimate economy. The Incentive was introduced in October 2013. It provides for tax relief for homeowners or landlords by way of an income tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure. Qualifying work must cost a minimum of €5,000 including VAT at 13.5% rate. The maximum qualifying cost for the purpose of the incentive is €30,000 including VAT at 13.5%. This equates to a maximum tax credit of €4,050. The tax credit is payable over the two years following the year in which the work is paid for.
The Incentive was due to end on 31 December 2016. However, I announced in last week's Budget that I am extending the Incentive for a further 2 years to end on 31 December 2018. This will allow additional time for homeowners and landlords to carry out renovation works and will also provide continued stimulus to the construction sector.
The Living City Initiative is a scheme of property tax incentives designed to regenerate both historic buildings and other buildings in specified cities. The scheme applies to certain special regeneration areas (SRAs) in the centres of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny. The relief applies to both residential and commercial refurbishment and conversion work that is carried out during the qualifying period. There are 2 types of tax relief available under the Living City Initiative - an owner-occupier residential element, and a retail/commercial element. The Deputy may be aware that in this year's Budget there were a number of changes to the initiative to encourage an increase in the take-up of the scheme. The changes included:
- Removing the restriction on the maximum floor size of the qualifying property
- Removing the requirement, for the residential element of the initiative, that the property must have been previously used as a dwelling
- Changing the minimum amount of expenditure needed to qualify from 10% of the value of the property to match the minimum spend under the Home Renovation Incentive, which is €5,000
- Extending the availability of the scheme such that landlords can avail of it in respect of the renovation of rental accommodation in the special regeneration areas.
There is another (limited) tax relief available for expenditure incurred on the maintenance of significant buildings and gardens, which is provided for in Section 482 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. To qualify for this relief the relevant building must be determined by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to be of significant scientific, historical, architectural or aesthetic interest. In addition, the Revenue Commissioners must be satisfied that reasonable access to the building is afforded to the public.
