Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if the 30% rate of mortgage interest relief has been passed onto all mortgage holders who bought houses between 2004 and 2008; if he will ensure that homeowners have benefitted from this relief or is their a requirement on homeowners to claim this relief themselves. [43168/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Revenue Commissioners administer mortgage interest relief through the Tax Relief at Source [TRS] system. The 30% rate of mortgage interest relief, applicable to people who took out their first qualifying home loan between 2004 and 2008, came into effect with the enactment of the Finance Act 2012. The regulations provide for the granting of the relief due to the borrower by the lender within the tax year. Mortgage interest relief is provided to the relevant mortgage holders via on-going electronic data file transfers between Revenue and each of the 132 individual qualifying lenders. To apply the new 30% rate, specific technology developments were required to Revenue’s and to each of the lenders computer systems. Revenue's systems were upgraded to implement the 30% rate in December 2011, but the speed of upgrading has not been uniform across all of the lenders. Revenue has been in continuous communication with the various lenders in regard to finalising their IT enhancements and to date the upgrades required to give effect to the 30% rate have been completed by all but one of the lenders. At this point all of these lenders have either implemented the rate or will do so with effect from November.

Revenue is currently in direct contact with the remaining lender to ensure that the 30% rate is paid to borrowers within the current year and applied retrospectively. Revenue has received commitment from the lender that its IT system will be upgraded and the new rate will be implemented within the current tax year.

In January of this year Revenue advised lenders to continue to grant tax relief at the rate of 25% to those entitled to the new 30% rate while IT upgrades were being completed. The 25% rate was applied in all cases while the IT systems were being upgraded. In all instances the additional relief either has or will be applied automatically to borrowers once the necessary IT changes are implemented.