Fewer than half of renters in Cork claimed tax credit in 2023
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More than half of Cork tenants entitled to claim the renters' tax credit last year failed to do so.
While Census 2022 found that 37,618 households were renting from private landlords, just 15,266 Cork-based residents claimed the €500 tax credit.
First introduced for the year 2022, the renters' tax credit was €500 for an individual and €1,000 for a couple. It was increased for 2024 in the most recent budget.
The amount of the credit is now 20% of your rent payments for the year up to a maximum of €750 for an individual and €1,500 for a couple who are jointly assessed for tax.
Households can claim the credit online by logging into their Revenue account. The lack of take-up among all those eligible has been attributed to some tenancies not being registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.
The county-by-county breakdown shows that just 6,213 renters claimed the credit in Limerick last year despite the Census showing that 13,497 households were renting.
In many counties, the figures suggest that of the number of households recorded in the Census as renting from a private landlord, the number of claimants for the tax credit last year was around half that figure.
A much lower proportion was claimed in Waterford, with 2,646 claimants despite 7,595 households renting from a private landlord.
The figures were released to Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin via parliamentary question. “There are two issues that stand out,” he said. “One is the consistently low level of take-up of the scheme.
“We're still in a situation where only half the eligible renters as per the Government estimate are claiming the tax relief. We’ve been saying from the start they need to do far far more to make people aware of this.”
Mr Ó Broin said that the Government needed to make the process easier and that he still has concerns people are not applying because they don’t have a registration number with the Residential Tenancies Board which should be supplied by the landlord.
“The other concern is the average claims,” he added. “We know the average existing rents from RTB data, but almost universally the amount being claimed is significantly lower than the rent being paid.
“We’ve consistently said it needs to be higher too and put at least a month’s rent back in people’s pockets.”
According to the figures released by the Department of Housing, some 419,561 rent tax credit claims have been made from 300,787 individuals or couples since the credit was first introduced.
Of these, 153,714 of these claimants put in for the tax credit just for 2022. A further 87,446 claimed the credit for 2022 and 2023 while 11,158 have claimed it for the last three years including 2024.
“During the Budget 2023 process, it was estimated that approximately 400,000 individual persons are eligible to claim the Rent Tax Credit for 2022,” the minister said. “The same figure was estimated for 2023.”
Ahead of Budget 2024, it had been speculated that the credit would be raised even further for renters. Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said he’d "ideally like to see it doubled if possible” to €1,000. However, the credit for this year was set at €750.
Tax breaks were also introduced for landlords in Budget 2024, with the Government saying the measure was introduced as a way to stop small landlords from leaving the market.