Home Renovation Incentive

What was the Home Renovation Incentive?

The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) scheme let homeowners, landlords and local authority tenants claim tax relief on repairs, renovations or improvement work that was carried out on their main home or rental property.

To qualify for the Home Renovation Incentive scheme the work had to be completed by 31 December 2018. The only exception to this deadline was if you needed planning permission for the work. Then you had to have planning permission before 31 December 2018, and have completed and paid for the work by 31 March 2019.

The HRI is a tax credit, so you have a number of years to claim it. So, even though the work must have been completed a few years ago, you may still be able to claim the credit. You can claim the HRI from 1 January in the year after the work was paid for. You must make the claim within 4 years after the year the qualifying work was paid for.

Who qualified for HRI?

To qualify for the HRI you must have:

  • Had the work done on your principal private residence, if you were an owner-occupier
  • Had a tenancy registered with the Residential Tenancies Board within six months of the work being completed on your rental property, if you were a landlord
  • Had written consent from your local authority to get the work done, if you were a local authority tenant
  • Paid your income tax
  • Been up to date with your Local Property Tax
  • Used a contractor that participated in the HRI scheme
  • Had the work done within the HRI timelines

HRI timelines for getting the work done

Homeowners: The work must have been carried out and paid for between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2018.

Landlords: The work must have been carried out and paid for between 15 October 2014 and 31 December 2018.

Local authority tenants: The work must have been carried out and paid for between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018.

The only exception to the closing date was if planning permission was required. Then planning permission must have been in place by 31 December 2018, and you had until the 31 March 2019 to complete the work.

What type of work qualified?

The type of work that qualified for the HRI included any repair, renovation or improvement work that was subject to VAT at 13.5%.

This included:

  • Extensions
  • Garages and attic conversions
  • Supply and fitting kitchens, bathrooms and wardrobes
  • Fitting windows
  • Garden landscaping
  • Plumbing
  • Tiling
  • Rewiring
  • Insulating
  • Plastering
  • Painting

There are more examples of qualifying work on revenue.ie.

How much could be claimed?

The qualifying work must have cost at least €4,405 before VAT at 13.5%, which comes to a total of €5,000 with VAT included.

The minimum credit was €595, based on the minimum qualifying expenditure of €4,405. The maximum was €4,050, based on the maximum qualifying expenditure of €30,000.

If you were getting a grant for the work, or if they were covered by an insurance claim, the amount of your expenditure that qualified for HRI will be reduced.

How to apply

The HRI scheme is closed for new applications .

However if you qualified for HRI but haven’t claimed it yet, you may still be able to. This is because the HRI is a tax credit, so you have a number of years to claim it. You must make the claim within 4 years after the year the qualifying work was paid for.

Claiming the credit

You can claim the HRI tax credit after the end of the tax year if your qualifying expenditure has reached the minimum amount of €4,405 before VAT (a total of €5,000) and you have paid income tax. Any unused tax credit can be rolled over into the following year.

In general, the tax credit was paid over the 2 years following the year in which the work is carried out and paid for. If you are on PAYE, your HRI tax credit would have been divided evenly across your pay dates for each of the 2 years that it was payable. If you are a self-assessed taxpayer, it would have been included in your self-assessment over 2 years, half the tax credit each year.

Where to apply

To claim the HRI credit, use the HRI online system, which you access through Revenue’s myAccount service or through the Revenue Online Service (ROS).

If you are a local authority tenant, you should contact your Revenue office for information.

Further information

Information about the HRI is available on revenue.ie. There is also detailed information in Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual (pdf).

Page edited: 7 December 2023