Tax Tips

Child Tax Credits: 6 Super Sources of Tax Relief For Parents

Many families in Ireland qualify for a range of tax benefits, yet thousands of parents and guardians fail to claim tax back each year. This is mainly because they are unaware of the range of benefits available to them or are unsure how to claim tax back.

To help you understand more about sources of tax relief available to families we have listed the top six tax benefits for parents that often go unclaimed.

1. Home Carers Tax Credit

If either you or your spouse works part-time or stays at home full-time to mind your children, you may be entitled to the Home Carers Tax Credit.

You can claim Home Carers Tax Credit if you or your spouse work at home caring for a dependent person. Dependents can be children for whom child benefit is payable, a person with a disability or someone over the age of 65 who requires full-time care. To claim this, the dependent must be living in the same property, a neighbouring property or within a 2km radius.

The amount of credit you’re entitled to will depend on your income but since the 2023 Budget, the Home Carers Tax Credit will be worth €1,700 if the home carer had an income of less than €7,200 per annum.

2. Single Person Child Carer Credit

If you’re a single parent, you might be bale to claim some tax back under the Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC).

The SPCCC is payable to the parent with whom the qualifying child lives for most of the year – meaning at least six months out of the year or more. Only children under the age of 18 qualify under the SPCCC unless they are in full-time education, provided you support and maintain them at your expense.

In the 2023 Budget, it was announced that the rate band for Singe Parents will increase to €44,000. Depending on your effective rate of tax, you ca get a tax rebate of either €1,650 or €2,450 per annum.

The primary claimant may elect to surrender the SPCCC payment in favour of a secondary claimant, provided that the person meets the same requirements as the primary claimant, except for the condition that the child lives with them for the majority of the year.

However, the child or children must live with the secondary claimant for a minimum of 100 days in the year in order to qualify for the SPCCC.

3. Legally Enforceable Maintenance

If you have separated or divorced and are legally require to make maintenance payments to your spouse, you are entitled to a tax deduction for the payments.

Legally enforceable maintenance includes arrangements made under a court order, deed of separation, rule of court, trust, covenant or other enforceable act to make annual or periodic payments to your former spouse.

As payments are made without deduction of tax, the person making the payments is eligible to receive a tax deduction on the payment, while the person receiving the payments is liable to pay tax on them.

4. Incapacitated Child Credit

You can claim a tax credit if you are the parent of guardian of a child who is permanently incapacitated, either physically or mentally. It is called the Incapacitated Child Credit. This credit is worth €3,300 per year, per child.

If you are not the parent of the child you can claim the credit if you have custody of the child and maintain them at your own expense.

Where the child is maintained by one parent only, that parent is entitled to claim the full amount of the tax credit. However, where the child is maintained by more than one person, the tax credit is divided between them in proportion to the amount paid by each towards the general costs of maintaining the child.

5. Medical Expenses for Dependents

Parents are also entitled to claim tax back on medical expenses paid for their dependants paid at the standard tax relief rate of 20%.

Anything covered or reimbursed by an insurance policy or medical card doesn’t qualify for tax relief; however, you can get your money back on nearly everything else you pay, including

Doctor and consultant Fees
Prescriptions
Treatment in a hospital
Speech and language therapy
Ambulance transport
Educational phycological assessments and more.

Routine dental and ophthalmic care does not qualify for tax relief, but you can claim tax back on the cost non routine dental treatments, including crowns, braces and surgical extraction of wisdom teeth when done in a hospital.

6. Tuition Fees for Dependents

If you pay for your child to attend a third-level college, foreign language course, or an IT course, either full-time or part-time you may be eligible to claim tax back at the standard tax rate of 20%.

Each year, the Department of Education and Skills supplies Revenue with an annual list of approved colleges, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, which names the courses that qualify for tax relief. However, courses not appearing on the list may still qualify so it’s important to check with your local Revenue office.

For third-level tuition fees, the maximum amount you can claim is €7,000 per course, per person, per academic year. For full-time courses the first €3,000 in expenses is disregarded and for part-time courses the first €1,500 is also disregarded.

You cannot claim tax back on fees that are funded by grants, scholarships or your employer. To qualify for tax relief on fees for a foreign language or IT course, the programme must not cost less than €315 and must be less than two years in duration. It also can’t be a postgraduate course and must be completed with the awarding of a certificate of competence (not just a certificate of attendance).

Get your money back with Irish Tax Rebates

Many State programmes seek to help families through paid benefits and tax relief, but it’s important that parents know when their entitled to claim tax back. In order to ensure you get your money back, contact our team of tax experts at Irish Tax Rebates.

Irish Tax Rebates has the highest average tax rebate in Ireland and the lowest fee. This means you’re guaranteed the highest rebate possible. Plus, no rebate, no fee, no catch! If you’re not entitled to any tax back, we don’t charge a fee, so you have nothing to lose.

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