Single Person Child Carer Credit (SPCCC)

This tax credit is €1,750 per year and will reduce the tax you pay by €33.65 per week. You may also be entitled to an increased rate band of €4,000 per annum. This is an additional €4,000 at the 20% tax rate. If you’re due the credit, then you’re automatically due the increased rate band.

This credit is for people looking after children on their own and came into effect on 1 January 2014. It replaces the One-Parent Family Credit which was abolished from 31 December 2013.

Who is it awarded to?

The credit is typically given to the person with whom the qualified child lives for the majority of the year (over 6 mts). This person is called the primary claimant. However, the primary claimant can give the entitlement to a secondary claimant who meets the qualifying conditions if the child lives with that person for more than 100 days in a year.

Only one parent can claim the SPCCC in a tax year.

You can’t claim the SPCC if you:

• Are jointly assessed as a married person/civil partner

• Are married/in a civil partnership (unless separated)

• Are cohabiting

• Are in a year in which you became widowed or a surviving civil partner and received the personal tax credit of €3,550? In this case, you can claim in subsequent years.

To qualify as a primary claimant you must:

• Live with the qualifying child or children for more than 6 months of the year

• Be the child’s parent or person who maintains the child at their own expense for the whole or greater part of the year

If both parents have equal custody by court order, the credit is determined by which parent gets the child benefit from the Department of Social Protection.

A child living away from home while attending college is considered a qualifying child if they’re still maintained by the claimant and live at home outside of term time.

Secondary claimant

The primary claimant can give up their Single Person Child Carer Credit in favour of a secondary claimant but the child must live with the secondary claimant for at least 100 days in the year.

The secondary claimant must meet the same conditions except for the condition that the child lives with him or her for the greater part of the year. For the purpose of this limit, a day can include the greater part of a day.

So, for example, if a child stays with the secondary claimant from Saturday morning until Sunday evening, this can be counted as 2 days

A qualifying child is:

• Born in the tax year or

• Aged under 18 at the start of the tax year or

• If over 18 at the start of the tax year, is in full-time instruction at any university, college, school or other educational establishment

A qualifying child can also be someone over 18 who is permanently incapacitated either before age 21 (or after age 21 while they were receiving full-time instruction). There is an additional Incapacitated Child Tax Credit.

A qualifying child may be your own child, an adopted child, a stepchild or any child you support and maintain at your own expense. However, foster children cannot be qualifying children.

If you surrender your credit to a secondary claimant, this arrangement will remain in place until you withdraw it and when you withdraw the credit, it will be restored at the beginning of the following tax year.

Can both parents claim a Single Person's Child Carer Credit?

No. Only one credit for a qualifying child is available to the primary claimant. 

However, if you're a primary claimant with more than one qualifying child and you surrender your entitlement to the SPCCC, two or more secondary claimants can claim the credit provided they are caring for qualified children for more than 100 days in a year.

For example:

Mary has 2 children, Ray and David, and is a qualifying primary claimant. Both Ray and David live with their respective fathers, Jack and Peter, for more than 100 days a year. Mary wants to relinquish her SPCCC. Both Jack and Peter can claim the credit as secondary claimants.

This tax credit is €1,750 per year and will reduce the tax you pay by €33.65 per week. You may also be entitled to an increased rate band of €4,000 per annum. This is an additional €4,000 at the 20% tax rate. If you’re due the credit, then you’re automatically due the increased rate band.