Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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198. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will amend the regulations for the single person child carer credit such that if the tax credit is not taken up-used by the primary claimant before the end of the tax year, the tax credit may be transferred to the secondary claimant without the need for the primary claimant to provide written permission to the Revenue Commissioners for the transfer of the tax credit to the secondary claimant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45067/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Single Person Child Carer Credit is, in the first instance, only available to the primary carer of the child. Agreement as to who will be the primary carer of a child is a matter for the parents or guardians.

In circumstances where the primary carer cannot utilise the credit for example, because of insufficient taxable income - the primary carer may relinquish the credit and a secondary claimant may claim it.  The requirement for a primary claimant to relinquish the credit before a claim from a secondary claimant can be considered is necessary, as in the first instance, only one credit is available in respect of a qualifying child or children.

There are many reasons why a primary carer may not wish to relinquish the credit. Only they can gauge whether their income would be of a sufficient amount over the course of a tax year to be able to utilise the credit. An individual may wish to retain the credit in the expectation that they may find employment during the year, for example. In addition, taxpayers are entitled to review their tax affairs over a four year look back period, and depending on circumstances, an individual might wish to retain the credit in order to offset any tax liability that might arise as a result of a review of their income tax liabilities in any of the years concerned.

I have considered the possible automatic transfer of the credit in cases where a primary carer refuses to relinquish it. However, there are many reasons why this would not be feasible, including logistical, data protection and constitutional concerns.