The rent tax credit: how to claim for 2024 to 2027

The rent tax credit gives you back 20% of the rent you paid in a year, up to a cap. For 2024, 2025 and 2026 the cap is €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple who are jointly assessed. For 2027 and 2028 Budget 2027 announced a rise to €1,150 and €2,300; that figure waits on the Finance Act 2026 and is marked as announced until then.

The credit is worth claiming for every year you rented, and it can be claimed back four years. The rent tax credit calculator gives the figure for your year and your rent and lists the conditions against your answers.

The figures by year

The credit is the lower of 20% of the rent you paid and the cap. A single person paying €19,200 a year reaches the cap; a single person paying €4,000 a year gets €800. The credit cannot be more than the income tax you paid in the year, so someone with little or no taxable income gets little or none of it.

Where two people share a home and each pays rent, each can claim on their own share, up to the single cap each, if they are separately assessed.

The conditions

Revenue's page sets the full list. The ones that catch people are these.

The tenancy must be registered with the RTB. For a tenancy you need the RTB registration number on the claim. If the landlord has not registered, you cannot claim until they do, though your other rights under the Act are not affected. RTB registration for tenants explains how to check the public register and what to do if the landlord will not register.

A licence needs no registration. If you rent a room in the owner's own home, in digs or under the rent-a-room scheme, you are a licensee and the arrangement cannot be registered. You can still claim the credit, and the claim does not ask for an RTB number. Licensees and lodgers covers the difference.

Not with HAP or in cost rental. The credit is not available for rent paid under the Housing Assistance Payment or in a cost-rental home. Rent Supplement is not listed as a bar.

Not where the landlord is your parent or your child. Rent paid to a parent or to a child does not qualify.

A parent can claim for a student child. Rent paid for a child in approved student accommodation, or in digs, qualifies for the parent's claim within the same caps.

The home must be your principal private residence, or the residence you use for work or college, and it must be in the State. A holiday let or a short let does not qualify.

How to claim for a past year

Sign in to myAccount on Revenue's site. Under Review your tax, pick the year and complete the income tax return for it. In the tax credits and reliefs section choose the rent tax credit. Enter the landlord's name, the address of the home, the rent you paid in the year, and the RTB registration number unless it is a licence. Submit the return. Revenue issues a statement of liability and any refund follows.

If you are self-assessed, claim on Form 11 for the year instead.

You can claim for each of the last four years in one sitting. Keep a note of the rent paid in each year; the rent book or your bank statements are the evidence Revenue may ask for.

How to claim for the current year

In myAccount, under Manage your tax, add the rent tax credit to your credits for the year with the same details. Your tax credit certificate is updated and the credit is spread over the rest of the year through payroll. If you would rather wait and claim the whole year at once, file the return in January.

What the RTB number is for

The number ties the claim to a registered tenancy. The landlord pays €40 a year per tenancy to register, and a tenancy that is not registered is a breach of the landlord's obligations, not yours. The number is on the RTB's confirmation letter, which the landlord should have given you, and the public register shows whether an address is registered.

A landlord who refuses to register, or to give you the number, has no lawful reason to. Ask in writing; the letter builder has a confirm-in-writing letter you can adapt. The RTB can be told about an unregistered tenancy and can impose a late fee on the landlord.

If you were on a permit or new to the country

A registered tenancy, with the credit claimed on it, is also one of the documents an immigration application accepts as evidence of residence. The StampWise link below sets out what to keep.

Where this leaves you

For 2024, 2025 and 2026 the credit is 20% of your rent up to €1,000, or €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple, and for 2027 a higher figure is announced but not yet law. You need the RTB number unless you are a licensee, and you cannot claim it on HAP or in cost rental. Claim past years through a return on myAccount, and the current year through Manage your tax. Run the calculator for the figure, then claim this week; a refund for four years is often the largest single sum a renter can recover.