Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will support a matter (details supplied). [18122/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I announced in my Budget statement of 7 April that with effect from 1 May 2009 the number of tax years in respect of which mortgage interest relief may be claimed is 7 years for both first time and non first time buyers. Since the Budget the Revenue Commissioners have been working with the lending institutions on the implementation of the Budget measure. The objective is to make the implementation as straightforward as possible and to ensure insofar as possible that mortgage account holders who are entitled to mortgage interest relief under the new rules get that relief without the need for any action on their part.

Where all parties to the account are first time buyers, i.e. are in receipt of mortgage interest relief on their first mortgage for less than 7 years, Revenue has the necessary information to confirm entitlement to mortgage interest relief after 1 May 2009 in accordance with my Budget statement. Such account holders will therefore continue to receive relief through the tax relief at source (TRS) system until the end of the 7th year. This includes those mortgage holders where 2009 is the 7th year of relief. For non-first time buyers, Revenue does not currently have available to it adequate information on the duration of all such accounts or the amount of the loan in respect of which relief may be appropriate. In those circumstances it cannot make a determination as to which accounts are entitled to mortgage interest relief after 1 May 2009.

To date many of the lenders have provided information in respect of the non-first time buyer accounts to Revenue and that information is currently being processed. Where Revenue is in a position to decide with certainty from the information provided by the lender that an account holder is entitled to relief then the payment of relief through TRS will be reactivated as quickly as possible without the need for any action by the account holder. Any arrears of relief will also be automatically credited to such accounts, again without the need for any action by the account holder. Where Revenue is in a position to decide with certainty from the information provided by the lender that an account holder is not entitled to relief then clearly there will be no reactivation of relief.

Where despite the information provided by lenders Revenue cannot make a determination whether a mortgage account holder is eligible for relief, then Revenue will be writing to each such account holder this month requesting the necessary information. I believe that the approach taken by Revenue, which is focused on minimising the effort needed by individual mortgage account holders in establishing their entitlement to mortgage interest relief under the new rules is the correct one and will ensure that the appropriate relief is available to all those who have an entitlement to such relief in the fastest and most efficient manner possible.