Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 473A

Relief for fees paid for third level education, etc

Section 473A provides income tax relief at the standard rate for qualifying fees paid to an approved college in respect of an approved course.

• Relief is available to an individual who pays qualifying tuition fees for an approved undergraduate or postgraduate course at an approved college, whether on their own behalf or on behalf of another person such as a child.
• The tax credit is the lesser of the standard rate of income tax applied to the qualifying fees paid (after any disregard) and the amount that reduces the individual's tax liability to nil; the maximum qualifying fee amount is €7,000 per person per course.
• A disregard applies to the fees before the credit is calculated: €3,000 for full-time courses and €1,500 for part-time courses (for 2015 and subsequent years); fees met by a grant, scholarship, or refunded by the college are excluded entirely.
• Where fees are refunded after relief has been claimed, the individual must notify Revenue within 21 days of receipt of the refund, and the same fees cannot be claimed under any other provision of the Income Tax Acts.