Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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330. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 525 of 8 September 2025, the projected cost in 2026 of extending the tax exemption under Section 216D of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 for profits of up to €400 from micro-generation; the additional cost of increasing this exemption to €500; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48686/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 216D of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides that profits of up to €400 per year arising to an individual from the generation of electricity from renewable, sustainable or alternative sources of energy at the individual’s sole or main residence for the individual’s own consumption (referred to as the micro-generation of electricity) is exempt from Income Tax, USC and PRSI.

The profits which are exempted are those profits arising from the domestic generation of electricity which is supplied to the national grid.

Where the calculated profit from micro-generated electricity for a tax year is in excess of the exempt amount of €400, that excess must be declared on an income tax return and will be subject to income tax, USC and PRSI in the usual manner.

The tax exemption is currently due to expire on 31 December 2025.

Given that income qualifying under this relief (up to €400 per year) is not required to be declared by micro-generators to Revenue, there are no data available on the uptake or cost to-date of the measure. However:

• Budget 2022 introduced the disregard of up to €200 from the micro-generation of electricity from income tax, the projected cost of the measure was estimated at €1 million for the full year cost.
• Budget 2024 increased the amount of exempted income from €200 to €400 and was estimated to be an additional cost in the order of €4.5 million for the full year for the measure.