Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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363. To ask the Minister for Finance if the rent tax credit available to the parents of third level students will be available for the duration of 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39484/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Rent Tax Credit (RTC) is available to students and their parents, as provided for in section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which 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.

The eligibility of the RTC was extended in Finance Act 2023 to parents who pay for their student children’s rental accommodation in the case of rent-a-room accommodation or “digs”. This applies to the years of assessment 2024 and 2025 and retrospectively to the years of assessment 2022 and 2023.

It is acknowledged that some parents may pay the rent due in respect of the residence used by their child while he or she is attending university. The credit will be available in such cases, subject to all other conditions of this measure being met, provided that:

1) the child concerned is undertaking an approved course and was under the age of 23 at the commencement of the year of assessment in which he or she first entered an approved course,

2) the child’s residence in the property facilitates his or her attendance at or participation in that approved course, and

3) neither the parent nor the child is related to the landlord concerned.

Where the claimant is jointly assessed to tax, the qualifying payment may be made by either the claimant or his or her spouse or civil partner, and the child concerned may be a child of either the claimant or his or her spouse or civil partner.

The Programme for Government commits to progressively increasing the Rent Tax Credit. However, and as the Deputy will appreciate, decisions regarding taxation measures are made in the context of the annual Budget and Finance Bill processes, at the appropriate time, and having regard to the sound management of the public finances. Finally, It is a longstanding practice of the Minister for Finance not to comment in advance of the Budget on any tax matters which might be the subject of Budget decisions.