James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons that have applied for the renters tax credit (details supplied); the number of individuals who are eligible to apply for this tax credit; the reasons for persons who are not applying for this credit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5497/24]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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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.