Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Finance

17th September 2014 - Olivia Mitchell TD

To ask the Minister for Finance if any consideration has been given to the unfair treatment of the secondary carer, who is also a major financial contributor to the child, being unable to receive the single person child carer credit when the primary carer chooses to cohabit and is no longer able to relinquish the credit to the secondary carer; and if he will make a statement on the matter?

As the Deputy is aware, the One-Parent Family Tax Credit (OPFTC) has been replaced with the Single Person Child Carer Credit from 1 January 2014. However, the reformed credit is more targeted in that it is, in the first instance, only available to the primary carer of the child.

Given the difficult fiscal environment, it is essential to review all tax reliefs, credits and incentives in order to ensure that they are properly targeted and if necessary re-focused in order that they can achieve the socio-economic objectives that are set for them.

The Commission on Taxation acknowledged that the previous One Parent Family Tax Credit played a role in supporting and incentivising the labour market participation of single and widowed parents. However, in its recommendations it concluded that the credit should be retained but that it should be allocated to the primary carer only. The restructuring of the credit achieves such an outcome.

The person who cares for the child for most of the year is entitled to the credit in the first instance. Agreement as to who will be the primary carer of a child is a matter for the parents or guardians. However, only the primary carer is entitled to the credit.

For information, it should be noted that where a primary carer is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting they would not be entitled to the new credit (or indeed the former one), on the basis that the relevant child is not, in the main, being cared for by a single person. In such circumstances the primary carer cannot relinquish the credit to a secondary carer. In addition, a secondary carer who is married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting, would not be entitled to the new credit (or indeed the former one) regardless of the marital status of the primary carer.

Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Finance

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