Minister McGrath welcomes latest rent tax credit data as total claims for 2022 exceeds 250,000

The Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has today (15 December 2023) welcomed the latest data for the number of eligible claims for the Rent Tax credit which shows that the total number of PAYE taxpayer units who have claimed the credit for 2022, the first year in the tax credit was in force, has now exceeded 250,000. The number of claims across 2022 and 2023 now exceeds 323,000. A total of €120 million has been paid in respect of claims for 2022.

Minister McGrath commented:

“The Rent Tax credit of up to €500 was originally introduced in Budget 2023 as a means of targeting assistance at renters at a time of high rents.

"It is very welcome that as at 6 December, there are now over 250,000 PAYE taxpayer units who have claimed the credit for 2022, the first year in which for which it applies. As a proportion of those claims will be in respect of jointly assessed couples, who may claim up to €1,000 in respect of 2022 and 2023, so the actual number of people who have benefitted from this measure is even greater.

"It should be noted that taxpayers have 4 years in which to make a claim for the relief. In addition, the statistics currently available refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayers. Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers is not yet available and I expect these figures will increase further.

"I was pleased to be able to further enhance the Rent Tax Credit for 2024, increasing the maximum level by 50% to €750 and I strongly urge all eligible taxpayers to register for the credit using the Revenue MyAccount for 2022 and 2023. It will also possible to claim the credit in realtime for 2024 early in the New Year.”

Notes

As of 6 December 2023, over 323,077 Rent Tax Credit claims have been made by 274,667 taxpayer units consisting of:

201,882 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022 only
48,410 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2023
24,375 taxpayer units that made claims for 2023 only

These statistics 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.

Subject to a number of conditions, the rent tax credit is broadly available in the following three circumstances:

where the claimant makes a qualifying payment in respect of a residential property which he or she uses as his or her principal private residence
where the claimant makes a qualifying payment in respect of a residential property which he or she uses to facilitate his or her attendance at or participation in his or her employment, office holding, trade, profession or an approved course, and
where the claimant makes a qualifying payment in respect of a residential property which his or her child uses to facilitate his or her child’s attendance at or participation in an approved course

This credit is currently subject to an overall cap of €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple and €500 in all other cases. Budget 2024 further increase the value of this credit. Following enactment of the Finance Bill, the value of the credit for the 2024 and 2025 tax years will increase to a maximum of €1,500 for a jointly assessed couple and €750 in all other cases.

In order to obtain benefit from the tax credit the claimant must have an income tax liability and thus the capacity to utilise the tax credit.