Written answers

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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144. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to the unfair treatment of a secondary carer, who is also a major financial contributor to a child, being unable to receive the single person child carer credit when the primary carer chooses to cohabit and is no longer able to relinquish the credit to the secondary carer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36928/16]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC) replaced the One-Parent Family Tax Credit (OPFTC) with effect from 1 January 2014.  It operates differently from the One-Parent Family Credit in that it is available in the first instance only to the Primary Claimant.

The Primary Claimant is the individual with whom the child resides for the whole or greater part of the year.  The Primary Claimant must be either the child's parent or the individual who has custody of the child and who maintains the child at his or her own expense for the whole or the greater part of the year.

The Commission on Taxation acknowledged that the previous One Parent Family Tax Credit played a role in supporting and incentivising the labour market participation of single and widowed parents.  However, in its recommendations it concluded that the credit should be retained but that it should be allocated to the primary carer only. The restructuring of the credit into the SPCCC achieves such an outcome. I would also point out that there is no specific tax credit for children in the tax code. Therefore, married or cohabiting couples are unable to avail of any additional credit to assist them in the financial maintenance of their children. 

It is possible for a qualifying Primary Claimant to surrender (relinquish) his or her entitlement to the credit, in favour of a Secondary Claimant where the child resides with that Secondary Claimant for at least 100 days per year. It should be noted that a Secondary Claimant does not qualify for the SPCCC in his/her own right. Rather it is the primary carer of the child who is entitled to the credit subject to meeting the qualifying criteria and, should he/she choose, may subsequently surrender the credit to a Secondary Claimant who has care of the child for at least 100 days in a year. Where the child's primary carer is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting they would not be entitled to the SPCCC (or indeed the previous One Parent Family Tax Credit), on the basis that the relevant child is not, in the main, being cared for by a single person. In such circumstances the Primary Claimant cannot relinquish the credit to a secondary carer.

However should the Secondary Claimant become the primary carer of the child in the future, he/she may be entitled to apply for the SPCCC in his/her own right.

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