Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of reintroducing the one-parent family tax credit for parents who do not qualify for the single person child carer tax credit if they have overnight access to their children a minimum of two days per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17737/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by Revenue that there is no information available to Revenue on which to estimate a cost to the Exchequer for the reintroduction of the One-Parent Family Tax Credit (OPFTC) in the manner set out by the Deputy, as Revenue would not have the necessary information as to the access arrangements of single parents.

The Deputy will be aware that the OPFTC was replaced by the Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC) with effect from 1 January 2014.  The SPCCC operates differently from the One-Parent Family Credit in that it is available in the first instance only to the Primary Claimant, who 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 structure of the OPFTC allowed multiple credits to be claimed in respect of the same child. As I have pointed out before, it is essential to review all tax reliefs, credits and incentives periodically in order to ensure that they are properly targeted and, if necessary, re-focused in order that they can achieve the socio-economic objectives that are set for them. The OPFTC was reviewed by the 2009 Commission on Taxation, which acknowledged that the credit played a role in supporting and incentivising the labour market participation of single and widowed parents.  However in its recommendations the Commission concluded that the credit should be allocated to the primary carer only. The restructuring of the OPFTC into the SPCCC achieved 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. 

I am advised by Revenue that the OPFTC cost to the Exchequer in 2013, its final year, was €141.6 million in respect of 104,100 claimants. The SPCCC cost to the Exchequer in 2014, the latest year for which data are available, was €94 million in respect of 71,100 claimants.

The Deputy will be aware that it is possible for a qualifying Primary Claimant to surrender 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, on the basis that the relevant child is not, in the main, being cared for by a single person, and therefore no credit is available to be relinquished to a Secondary Claimant.  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. I am satisfied that the SPCCC in its current form is targeting limited resources to where they are most needed.