Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

636. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills whether he would consider approving a course (details supplied) for tax relief. [44983/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Section 473A of the Taxes Consolidation Actof 1997 provides for tax relief on fees paid for third level education programmes. The Act refers to lists of ‘approved colleges’ and ‘approved courses’ which are eligible for tax relief.

Lists of approved education providers and programmes which are eligible for tax relief are published on the Revenue Commissioners website each year. These lists are provided annually to Revenue by my Department.

The provisions of Section 473A enable all relevant publicly funded higher education institutions in the State to be considered as ‘approved colleges’ for the purposes of the tax relief scheme. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) provides updates to my Department in respect of newly validated publicly funded programmes.

Where a private higher education institution in the State wishes to meet the requirements of Section 473A it must engage with Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) for the purposes of programme validation, a process in which the quality assurance standards of the institution, and its programme(s), are assessed for inclusion within the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The successful completion of this process allows a private higher education institution to be considered as an ‘approved college’ and its relevant validated programme(s) to be considered as an ‘approved course’ for the purposes of the tax relief scheme.

Further details of the tax relief scheme, including the conditions that apply, are set out on the Revenue website at: www.revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/education/tuition-fees-paid-for-third-level-education/index.aspx.