Government must offer certainty on Rent Tax Credit for parents of third-level students

Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has asked the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to offer certainty on the future of the Rent Tax Credit (RTC) that is currently available to the parents of third-level students.

The RTC is a provision that 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. It is estimated that parents who pay rent can claim up to €2,000 in tax credits if they are jointly assessed.

Deputy Nolan initially sought guarantees on the future of the RTC in a parliamentary question to the minister in July. As part of his reply he noted that while the Programme for Government commits to progressively increasing the Rent Tax Credit, decisions regarding taxation measures will only be 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:

“There is a lot of fear and uncertainty around the stability or otherwise of the ‘public finances’ which we can see in relation to the government party’s infighting around the restoration of the 9% VAT rate for hospitality. My concern is this will also spill over into rowing back on measures such as the Rent Tax Credit. We have already seen the fiasco that surrounded the reversal of the €1000 student contribution fee so it is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that government would decide to target the RTC,” said Deputy Nolan.

“I am especially alarmed about this in the context of the escalating student accommodation crisis and the obscene costs that parents and students are being charged for on and off campus rooms.”

“Parents need certainty that the RTC will not be touched. It is bad enough that they are having to navigate a accommodation crisis in the middle of a cost of living crisis,” concluded Deputy Nolan.