Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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216. To ask the Minister for Finance whether the €14,000 limit refers to renting to one student only, or if it is permissible to rent several rooms to several students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16061/24]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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217. To ask the Minister for Finance whether a parent who is paying for student digs and wants to claim the new €750 rent credit on their tax return can claim for this even when the accommodation owner refuses to give receipts; if landlords are obliged to give receipts; whether the rent-a-room scheme only applies to students; if a homeowner can keep a working person instead of a student and still earn up to €14,000 p.a., tax-free; whether he/she can keep both a student and a worker under the rent-a-room scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16062/24]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 216 and 217 together.

The rent-a-room relief is provided for in section 216A Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA). It provides that, where an individual rents a room or rooms in his or her home as residential accommodation, he or she is treated, for income tax purposes, as not having any income from the letting where the gross rent received (including sums for food, laundry or similar goods and services), does not exceed €14,000.

If the gross rent received from letting a room or rooms exceeds €14,000 in a tax year, rent-a-room relief is not available, and the gross rent received is taxable in full. There is no limit to the number of rooms let, only the amount of gross rent received.

The relief does not require that the tenant is a student; qualifying claimants can rent out rooms to students and non-students alike.

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.

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

Finally, in circumstances where receipts in respect of a rent-a-room tenancy are not available, an individual can still claim the Rent Tax Credit and should be in a position to provide as much information as possible to Revenue about their rental arrangement when making a claim.

Further information on the rent-a-room relief and the Rent Tax Credit and what is required to claim can be found on the Revenue website at:

www.revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/land-and-property/rent-credit/how-to-claim.aspx.

www.revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/land-and-property/rent-a-room-relief/index.aspx.