Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo and Galway, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4280/24]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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136. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, and Kildare, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4249/24]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of earners in Cork who will benefit from the USC reductions announced in budget 2024; the number of renters in Cork who benefitted from the rent tax scheme in 2023; how many are eligible to claim the same in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4568/24]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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155. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of eligible claims currently being made for the rent tax credit made in counties Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork and Kerry, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4253/24]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 136, 148, 155 and 159 together.

The Rent Tax Credit, as provided for in section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA 1997), was introduced by the Finance Act 2022 and may be claimed in respect of qualifying rent paid in 2022 and subsequent years to end-2025.

I am advised by Revenue that the Rent Tax Credit statistics currently available refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayers. Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers is not yet available. Statistics covering all taxpayers will be available in Q2 2024.

Claims in respect of the 2022 and 2023 years of assessment can be made by PAYE taxpayers by submitting an Income Tax return for that year. For claims relating to 2023, PAYE taxpayers had the option of claiming the rent tax credit due to them as rent is incurred through Revenue’s Online Service or at the end of the year through their Income Tax return. The same option is available for claims relating to 2024.

Rent Tax Credit claims are made are on a ‘taxpayer unit’ basis. A taxpayer unit is either an individual with any personal status who is singly assessed or a couple in a marriage or civil partnership who have elected for joint assessment.

I am advised that as of 25 January 2024, 453,777 Rent Tax Credit claims have been made by 310,891 taxpayer units consisting of:

- 136,660 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022 only,

- 102,473 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2023,

- 5,413 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2024,

- 41,415 taxpayer units that made claims for 2023 only,

- 5,678 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2023 and 2024,

- 4,591 taxpayer units that made claims for 2024 only,

- 14,661 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Data for claims relating to number of PAYE taxpayer units is set out by county in the table below.

In relation Deputy O'Connor's query as to the number of persons eligible to claim the rent tax credit in 2024, I am advised that, in general, Revenue does not have advance information on the eligibility of taxpayers to claim the Rent Tax Credit given that this is dependent on future rental patterns and other factors.

Finally, in relation to Deputy O'Connor's query concerning USC, I am advised by Revenue that it is estimated that a total of 1.6 million taxpayer units will benefit from the USC measures outlined in Budget 2024. A taxpayer unit counts jointly assessed couples as one unit. I am further advised by Revenue that this and other estimates relating to Budget changes to income tax policy are provided using Revenue’s micro-simulation income tax model, Tax Modeller, and that, while this model uses taxpayer unit level data, estimates broken down by taxpayer location are not generated as part of the modelling process.