Allowance - Carers
des hutchinson
started Sep 20, 2010 at 17:12
Sory no category for my question but thought I would send it anyway.Hi I just saw the piece on tv about carers allowance and have a few questions. If a spouse stays at home to mind children and has no income can I claim this allowance. My understanding was that the child had to be incapacatated. Is there an income threshold for claiming this allowance i.e. if over x amount you cannot claim ? Is there an age limit for teh children ?
Thanks in anticipation and I love your site. Des
Simon Moynihan
Boards Admin
Joined Jun 10, 2010 at 16:46
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comment by Simon Moynihan Sep 21, 2010 at 15:27
Dear Des,
The Home Carer's Tax Credit is a tax credit of €900 which can be claimed by a married couple where one spouse cares for one or more dependent people. There are of course a few restrictions on claiming credit which I will go through.
Firstly, if a spouse stays home to mind children and has no income, this credit can be claimed. In fact, the home carer can have an income of up to €5,080 per year and the credit can still be claimed.
A child does not have to be incapacitated either physically or mentally for this credit to be claimed. A child must be someone for whom Child Benefit is payable - ie. under sixteen or under eighteen and in full time education. There are other people for whom this credit can be claimed and they include mentally or physically incapacitated people and those over 65.
There does not appear to be any income restrictions on the working spouse when claiming this credit.
The Revenue provides further information on this tax credit on their website. The link is below.
I hope this helps
Simon