Survey shows appetite for rent-a-room threshold pushed above current €14,000 level
Earlier this year the rent-a-room plan was widened to also allow council tenants to rent out rooms for up to €14,000 a year tax free. Photograph: iStockThe Government should increase the tax-free threshold of its rent-a-room scheme from the current level of €14,000 in order to combat the State’s growing accommodation crisis, according to most respondents to a survey carried out by Taxback.
Some 53 per cent of the 2,000 taxpayers on Taxback’s database that took part in the pre-budget survey said the threshold should be increased, according to the tax repayments company, which was founded by Kilkenny businessman Terry Clune. Almost one in three of those surveyed say strict rent controls are the most effective way to allow potential first-time buyers to save for a deposit to take out a mortgage. Some 19 per cent said the Government’s Help-to-Buy scheme, which currently gives a tax rebate of up to €30,000 or 10 per cent of the price of a new home to first-time buyers, should be extended.
“The appetite is definitely there to increase rent-a-room relief,” said Marian Ryan, consumer tax manager with Taxback. “Homelessness in Ireland has hit record highs this year yet Ireland has one of the highest rates of underoccupied homes in the EU, with almost seven in 10 Irish people living in homes that are too big for their household heeds.”
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