Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

157. To ask the Minister for Finance if a response to correspondence regarding single person child carer credit, SPCCC, will issue (details supplied). [13858/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The issue raised by the Deputy relates to the eligibility criteria for the Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC).

The SPCCC is a tax credit that is available to a single person who has a “qualifying child” resident with him/her for the whole or greater part of the tax year and who satisfies the other conditions of the relief. The value of the credit is €1,650 for each tax year. In addition to the credit, a claimant is entitled to an additional €4,000 on the standard rate income tax band (i.e. the amount on which tax is paid at the lower rate of tax, which is currently 20%). An individual can only receive one SPCCC irrespective of the number of qualifying children residing with him/her.

To qualify as a single person for the purposes of the SPCCC, the individual must not be jointly assessed for income tax as a married person or civil partner, living with his/her spouse or civil partner, or cohabiting with a partner.

A qualifying child includes a child born in the tax year, a child who was under the age of 18 at the start of the tax year or a child who was over the age of 18 at the start of the tax year if he/she is either in full-time education or is permanently incapacitated by reason of mental or physical infirmity from maintaining himself/herself. A qualifying child also includes a permanently incapacitated individual who is over the age of 21, if he/she became permanently incapacitated before reaching the age of 21 or while in full-time education.

The credit is ordinarily given to the primary claimant. The primary claimant is the individual who proves that a qualifying child resides with him/her for the whole or the greater part of the tax year (i.e. a period greater than six months) and that the child is either his/her own child or a child who has been placed in his/her custody.

A primary claimant can relinquish his/her entitlement to the SPCCC to a secondary claimant. The secondary claimant can then claim the credit if he/she qualifies as a single person and the qualifying child resides with him/her for at least 100 days throughout the tax year.

Detailed information on the Single Person Child Carer Credit can be found on Revenue’s website at the following link:

www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-15/15-01-41.pdf.