136. Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of renters who claimed the rent tax credit in 2023, 2024 and 2025; and the overall value of the claims in each year. [50165/26]

The Rent Tax Credit (RTC) was introduced by the Finance Act 2022 and may be claimed by taxpayer units in respect of qualifying rent paid in 2022 and subsequent years to end-2028. A taxpayer unit is either an individual with any personal status who is singly assessed or a couple in a marriage or civil partnership who have elected for joint assessment, in which case they are counted as one taxpayer unit.

The value of the credit for 2022 and 2023 was €500 for a singly assessed individual and €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple. For later years, the value of the credit increased to €1,000 for a singly assessed individual and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple.

The extent to which a taxpayer unit benefits from a tax credit, through a reduced tax liability and/or receipt of a refund for overpayment of a tax liability, is determined by their gross tax liability and the use of other tax credits and reliefs. Taxpayers who claim the RTC may not benefit from this credit as a result of other reliefs, deductions and tax credits already reducing their net tax liability to nil.

I am informed by Revenue that 313,980 taxpayer units claimed the Rent Tax Credit (RTC) for 2022, with 273,160 of these taxpayer units benefitting from it, resulting in an estimated cost of €156.4 million.

In relation to 2023, 354,110 taxpayer units claimed the RTC, with 315,030 taxpayer units befitting from it, which resulted in an estimated cost of €183.5 million.

379,020 taxpayer units claimed the RTC for 2024, with 335,030 of these taxpayer units benefitting from it, resulting in an estimated cost of €363 million. These numbers include both PAYE and self-assessed taxpayer units.

Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers are not yet available for 2025 as the filing deadline in relation to 2025 is in November 2026. As a result, information on the total cost of this credit for 2025 will not be available until mid-2027, once returns are processed and the data is available for analysis.

The following RTC statistics for 2025 refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayer units. Revenue further advises that 303,590 taxpayer units have claimed the RTC for 2025, with a total credit claim value of approximately €315m. The data represent the claims as of 15 June 2026. As the Deputy will be aware, PAYE taxpayers have four years after the year end in which to file a F12 tax return and make a claim for credits and reliefs to which they are entitled.