Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
214. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of PAYE taxpayers identified that have yet to claim their rent tax credit for 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73064/25]
View answerThe Rent Tax Credit (RTC) 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. The RTC has played a valuable role in providing financial support to renters right across the country.
For the years 2022 and 2023 the RTC was valued at a maximum of €500 for a single individual and €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple. For the years 2024 and 2025 the RTC is valued at a maximum of €1,000 for a single individual and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple.
As announced in Budget 2026 and as provided for in Finance Bill 2025, the RTC is being extended, in its current form, for a further three years, to the end of 2028.
I am informed by Revenue that they are unable to prepare estimates of the numbers of taxpayers who are eligible to claim the RTC. The uptake is dependent on the number of taxpayers who meet the eligibility criteria associated with this credit, and who make a claim on their annual tax return or claim the credit in-year via Revenue’s MyAccount service. However, during the Budget 2023 process, my Department estimated that some 400,000 persons may have been eligible to claim the credit.
The number of claims by PAYE taxpayer units, for 2024 and 2025 to-date, as of 1 December 2025 are 308,645 and 95,432 respectively. 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, in which case they are counted as one taxpayer unit.
It should be noted that most claims for credits by PAYE taxpayer's units take place after the year-end, and it is expected that the bulk of claims for 2025 will not be made until 2026.
