787. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the total number of rent tax credit claims made in 2024, 2025, and to date in 2026, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57288/26]

841. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will provide the latest figures for the number of people who have availed of the rent tax credit in this tax year, broken down by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59238/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 787 and 841 together.

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 advised by Revenue that 379,020 taxpayer units claimed the RTC for 2024, with 335,030 taxpayer units benefitting from it. These numbers include both PAYE and self-assessed taxpayer units. I am also advised by Revenue that a breakdown by county of the number of taxpayer units, who made an RTC claim in 2024, is currently being prepared and will be available in the coming weeks.

The following RTC statistics for 2025 and 2026 refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayer units. Revenue further advise that 307,130 taxpayer units for 2025 and 71,300 taxpayer units for 2026 have claimed the RTC as of 6th July 2026.

It should be noted that, 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. Most claims for credits by PAYE taxpayers take place after the year-end and it is expected that the bulk of RTC claims for 2025 PAYE taxpayers will be made throughout 2026.

The data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers is not yet available for 2025 and 2026. Complete data in relation to 2025 will be made available in mid-2027, once the 2025 Form 11 returns have been processed and data are prepared for statistical analysis. The filing deadline for the 2025 Form 11 return is November 2026. Data availability in relation to later years will follow a similar pattern in the coming years as the filing deadlines fall due.

The below table outlines the number of claims by PAYE taxpayer units for the RTC by year of assessment and by county for 2025 and 2026 as on 6th July 2026.

Note all figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.