Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Finance if a pensioner who derives income from a deposit account and has put the account into joint names with their daughter, who derives no benefit, for the purposes of easy access for expenses relating to the account holder's funeral, can claim a DIRT refund; and the financial institutions to which such a refund applies. [22370/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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An individual can claim a refund of DIRT if: · he/she (or his/her spouse) is aged 65 or over during the year and · his/her gross income from all sources (i.e., old age pension, deposit interest, etc.) is less than €20,000 (or €40,000 in the case of a married couple).

In general, joint accounts where one of the account holders is aged 65 or over will only qualify for the refund of DIRT where the other account holder is that person's spouse. However if another person, such as a daughter or son, has authority to operate an individual's bank account on his or her behalf, and is named as an account holder for this purpose only, the individual will continue to qualify for the refund provided that his or her beneficial ownership of the account is not affected. In the circumstances set out in the question the pensioner should, when making the DIRT refund claim to Revenue, include a declaration that he/she is beneficially entitled to all of the interest paid in respect of the deposit. Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) is deducted at source from interest paid on deposits held by banks, building societies, credit unions and the Post Office Savings Bank.