Oct 2013
7
Making the Most of Tax Reliefs and Credits
There are a wide range of benefits that Irish taxpayers can claim for:
Medical Expenses: Tax relief granted at standard rate of 20%- that’s €10 back for every €50 for doctors and consultants’ fees and prescribed medicines. Relief can also be claimed for a number of other less obvious items, for example - the cost of special diabetic or celiac food products subject to a letter from your doctor.
College Fees: Tax relief is available on fees paid for qualifying third-level courses with the relief applied at a rate of 20% - excluding examination fees, registration fees and administration fees. The first €2,500 of any fees paid in 2013 do not qualify – effectively this means that tax relief will only be available for families with more than one child attending college.
Flat Rate Expenses: People working in certain occupations, such as nurses for example, are entitled to a fixed rate expense allowance to cover the costs of uniform. Flat rate expenses can be deducted from your income before it is taxed. For example nurses who are required to provide and launder their own uniforms are granted a deduction of €733 while shop assistants are entitled to a deduction of €121 and airline cabin crew are granted €64.00.
Disappearing Reliefs: You have 4 years to make your tax relief claim. This means the earliest year for which you can claim is 2009 even if the relief in question has been abolished.
Relief for Service Charges ceased from January 1 2012 but can still be claimed for 2009, 2010 and 2011. A maximum annual spend of €400 on domestic service charges, including waste, water and sewage is eligible for tax relief at 20%.
Relief on Trade Union subscriptions were abolished in 2011 however you can still claim back to 2009 up to a maximum of €350 per annum.
Rent Relief is to be abolished completely by 2018.
