Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 463

Widowed parent tax credit

Section 463 provides a tapering tax credit for widowed persons and surviving civil partners who have a dependent child living with them in the years following bereavement.

• The credit is available for each of the five years of assessment immediately following the year in which the spouse or civil partner dies, provided the claimant has not remarried or entered a new civil partnership before the start of that year.
• A qualifying child must be resident with the claimant for all or part of the year; the definition of "qualifying child" and the rules for determining that status are the same as those in section 462B.
• The credit tapers over five years: €3,600 in year 1, €3,150 in year 2, €2,700 in year 3, €2,250 in year 4, and €1,800 in year 5.
• The credit does not apply for any year of assessment in which the claimant is cohabiting.