Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 462B

Single person child carer credit

Section 462B provides for the single person child carer credit, a tax credit of €1,900 available to single, widowed, separated, divorced or surviving civil partners who have a qualifying child residing with them for the greater part of the tax year.

• The credit is available to a primary claimant — an individual with whom a qualifying child resides for the greater part of the tax year — and may be relinquished to a secondary claimant with whom the child resides for at least 100 days in the year.
• A qualifying child is one born in the year of assessment, under 18 at the start of the year, or if over 18, in full-time education or training for at least two years, or permanently incapacitated before age 21 or while in full-time education.
• The credit is not available to individuals entitled to the higher personal tax credit under section 461, nor to cohabitants, jointly assessed spouses, or civil partners who are not genuinely separated.
• Only one credit of €1,900 is available per claimant regardless of the number of qualifying children, and where joint custody results in equal residency, the parent receiving child benefit from the Department of Social Protection is treated as the primary claimant.