Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 204B

Exemption in respect of compensation for certain living donors

Section 204B exempts from income tax and USC compensation paid to a living donor who donates a kidney or a lobe of liver for transplantation, where the compensation is paid under conditions defined by the Minister for Health.

• Compensation paid to living donors of a kidney (from 1 January 2015) or a lobe of liver (from 12 March 2019) for transplantation is exempt from income tax and is not reckoned in computing income for income tax purposes.
• The exemption applies only where the compensation is paid under conditions defined by the Minister for Health pursuant to subsections (3) and (4) of section 12 of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024.
• Under S.I. No. 251 of 2025, qualifying compensation covers vouched travel and accommodation expenses (up to €8,000), loss of earnings (up to €15,000 for a maximum of 12 weeks), and childcare costs that would not otherwise have been incurred (up to €6,750), all administered by the HSE's Living Donor Reimbursement Office.
• Prior to 2026, the exemption operated under conditions set out in S.I. No. 325 of 2012 and S.I. No. 198 of 2014; the legislative framework was updated by the Finance Act 2025 to refer to the Human Tissue Act 2024.