Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. Mortgage interest tax relief, in the form of the mortgage interest tax credit, introduced in the most recent budget, is a one-year temporary relief available to homeowners with an outstanding mortgage balance on their principal private residence of between €80,000 and €500,000 on 31 December 2022. It is available at the standard rate of income tax and is based on the increase in the interest paid in 2023 over interest paid in 2022. The value of the relief is equal to the lesser of 20% of this excess interest amount or a maximum of €1,250.

In order to avail of the relief, taxpayers must file a 2023 income tax return and upload their certificate of mortgage interest for 2022 and 2023 and confirmation of their mortgage balance at 31 December 2022. Furthermore, taxpayers must be compliant with local property tax requirements and must have paid income tax in 2023.

The relief operates by way of a credit offset against a taxpayer’s income tax liability for 2023. I am advised by Revenue that, as of 15 May, 21,181 taxpayer units made a claim for this relief on their 2023 PAYE income tax return and 18,803 claimants received a refund of tax, totalling over €17.8 million. Of these, 243 claimants paid less in tax than the full credit they claimed. Revenue notes that other credits and reliefs claimed, such as those relating to health expenses and tuition fees, may also have contributed to the overall amount of refunds issued. A further 2,119 claimants are either in a balanced position or had an underpayment reduced by the mortgage interest tax relief being applied to their record. An additional 259 claimants are not in a position to benefit as they did not pay any income tax in 2023. Information is not yet available for self-assessed taxpayers as these taxpayers have until the end of October this year to submit their 2023 income tax return. Data is not available in respect of the number of people who may be entitled to claim the tax credit but who have not yet filed a return and made a claim. It should be noted that taxpayers have four years to submit claims for tax credits and tax reliefs. As I have said on many occasions, I encourage all those who are eligible for this credit or any other credit or tax relief to make a claim. I will come back to the Deputy with further information in a moment.

See this speech in context