Irish rent tax credit: caps and how to claim
Last updated: 12 October 2026
How the 2026 rent tax credit is capped, Revenue’s example of a claim limited by the tax bill, and where to claim it in myAccount.
What the credit reduces
The rent tax credit reduces income tax for the years 2022 to 2028. Revenue is explicit that it does not reduce USC or PRSI. If you have no income tax left after your other credits, the rent credit pays nothing. It is not a cash grant and it is not added to a USC refund.
For 2024 to 2028 the maximum is €1,000, or €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple. For 2022 and 2023 the maximum was €500, or €1,000 for a jointly assessed couple. The credit is 20% of qualifying rent, and it stops at those caps. The caps apply once, however many properties you paid rent on during the year. A couple who are not jointly assessed do not automatically share the €2,000. Revenue’s “all other cases” figure is the €1,000.
The three numbers, and the smallest one wins
Revenue’s how-much page describes the claim as the lowest of three amounts. The first is 20% of the rent you paid. The second is the specified amount at 20%, which for a single person in 2024 to 2028 is €5,000 at 20%, equal to the €1,000 cap. The third is whatever is needed to bring your income tax down to zero. You cannot be paid the difference if the credit is larger than the tax.
Revenue’s example is Ben, a single person who paid €400 a month from January to April 2025 and then had no job for the rest of that year. Rent paid was €1,600, and 20% of that is €320. The specified amount at 20% is €1,000. His income tax for the year, after other credits, was €120. The claim is €120. The €320 does not become a refund of the unused part.
A full year at a higher rent hits the cap instead. Rent of €12,000 is €1,000 a month. Twenty per cent is €2,400, and the single-person cap cuts the credit to €1,000, provided income tax of at least €1,000 remains after the other credits. A jointly assessed couple with the same rent each, and enough income tax, can reach the €2,000 cap. The arithmetic is still “the smallest of the three”, not an automatic €1,000.
Claiming 2026, and claiming an earlier year
Revenue’s how-to-claim page says a PAYE taxpayer can claim 2026 during the year. In myAccount, open PAYE Services, then Manage your tax for the current year, then Add new credits. The rent tax credit sits under You and your family. The credit is then set against income tax through payroll, in the same way as other in-year credits. You can instead claim 2026 on the income tax return filed in 2027.
Earlier years go through Review your tax, the statement of liability, and the income tax return. A self-assessed person who also has PAYE income claims the 2026 credit in-year through Manage Your Tax 2026 on myAccount in ROS. The pages were published 1 January 2026. The screen labels are Revenue’s. If a menu has moved, the how-to-claim page is the list to follow.
What has to be true before the cap matters
The maximum is irrelevant if the tenancy does not qualify. Revenue’s conditions cover the kind of property, the relationship with the landlord, and the years the credit exists. A claim for a property you do not live in, or for rent paid to a parent in circumstances the page excludes, will fail before the €1,000 is discussed. Read the qualifying rules on the rent-credit index rather than starting from the cap. This guide does not restate every exclusion, because a shortened list would drop one.
The credit is also limited by the tax you actually owe. A person whose income is covered by the personal and employee credits has nothing for the rent credit to reduce. Increasing the rent does not create a refund. Ben’s €120 is the illustration: the tax bill was the binding limit, not the rent and not the €1,000.
The calculators on this site leave it out
The rent credit is not in the 2026 rate file the calculators use. The income tax calculator applies the personal and employee credits and stops there. The take-home pay calculator then adds USC and PRSI. Neither subtracts €1,000 or €2,000. If you want a rough payslip after the credit, take the income tax figure and reduce it by the credit you actually expect, and do not reduce the USC or the PRSI lines.
Someone who is about to buy, and is comparing a year of rent with a year of ownership, has two further pages. The stamp duty calculator is the duty on the purchase. Help to Buy, for a qualifying new home, is a refund of income tax and DIRT and is described in its own guide. Neither of those replaces the rent credit for a year in which you were still a tenant. A year can include both rent and a completion. The credit looks at the rent paid in that year, subject to the rules, and the duty looks at the instrument.
Figures that are fixed, and one that is not a guess
The caps, the 20% rate, the years 2022 to 2028, and Ben’s €120 are from Revenue’s rent-credit pages published 1 January 2026. The €12,000 rent example is only 20% arithmetic against the published cap, so that a reader can see the cap bind. It is not a Revenue case study.
Budget 2027 was announced on 6 October 2026 and is not applied on this site. The rent credit’s published window already runs to 2028 at the 2024–2028 amounts. If a later Finance Act changes the cap, the Revenue how-much page moves first and this page should be read against it. Until that page changes, €1,000 and €2,000 are the ceilings used here.