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. The works must have been completed by a tax-compliant contractor and were subject to 13.5% VAT.

In order to qualify for the HRI, the work must have been done between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2018 for homeowners; between 15 October 2014 and 31 December 2018 for landlords; and between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018 for local authority tenants. The only exception to the closing date is if planning permission was required for the work. If this was the case, planning permission must have been in place before 31 December 2018, and you had until the 31 March 2019 to complete and pay for the work.

The HRI is paid in the form of a tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure, which can be set against your income tax over 2 years. This effectively reduces the rate of VAT to zero on qualifying work, up to a value of €30,000.

To qualify for the HRI as an owner-occupier, the work must be carried out on your principal private residence. Landlords can qualify for work done on their rental properties. These rental properties must be occupied by a tenant and registered with the Residential Tenancies Board within six months of the work being completed.

You must be paying income tax - whether under PAYE or self-assessment - to avail of the HRI.

If you are a homeowner or a landlord, you must be up to date with your Local Property Tax.

If you are a local authority tenant, you must get prior written consent from the local authority to carry out the works.

Any contractor you use must be participating in the HRI scheme. This means they are registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) in Ireland and are tax-compliant. You can see if your contractor is a HRI qualifying contractor by checking HRI online in Revenue’s myAccount before the work begins, to see if they have entered details of the works to be completed at your home. If several contractors, such as a builder, a plumber and an electrician, carry out qualifying work on your home or rental property, you can combine the cost of the works to make up the minimum qualifying amount – see 'Rates' below.

Qualifying work

The type of work that qualifies for the HRI is any repair, renovation or improvement work that is subject to VAT at 13.5%. This includes extensions, garages and attic conversions; the supply and fitting of kitchens, bathrooms and built-in wardrobes; fitting of windows; garden landscaping; plumbing, tiling, rewiring, insulating, plastering and painting.

If you are having your septic tank repaired or replaced, or are installing a radon gas mitigation solution, this work also qualifies for the HRI. Work on driveways and on rainwater harvesting systems also qualifies. There are more examples of qualifying work on revenue.ie. If you are unsure about whether your works will qualify, contact your Revenue office – see 'Where to apply' below.

Work that is subject to VAT at 23% (such as architect’s fees) is not covered. Neither are items such as furniture, white goods or carpets. Also, if you buy materials yourself, for example, paint or tiles, you cannot include them in your claim for tax relief.

Closing dates

Homeowners: In general, the work must have been carried out and paid for between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2018. Qualifying work between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2013 is treated as if it was carried out and paid for in 2014.

Landlords: In general, the work must have been carried out and paid for between 15 October 2014 and 31 December 2018. Qualifying work between 15 October 2014 and 31 December 2014 is treated as if it was carried out and paid for in 2015.

Local authority tenants: The work must have been carried out and paid for between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018. Prior written consent is required from the local authority to carry out the works.

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

Further information

Information about the HRI is available on revenue.ie. There is specific information on HRI for homeowners and landlords, as well as information on HRI for contractors. There is also detailed information in Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual (pdf).

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. You can claim the HRI tax credit up to a maximum of €30,000 (before VAT) of your total cost.

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

If you are claiming a grant for the works, or if they are covered by an insurance claim, the amount of your expenditure that qualifies for HRI will be reduced.

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 is payable 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 will be divided evenly across your pay dates for each of the 2 years that it is payable. If you are a self-assessed taxpayer, it will be included in your self-assessment over 2 years, half the tax credit each year.

• For homeowners, 2015 was the first year in which you could claim a HRI credit
• For landlords, 2016 was the first year in which you could claim a HRI credit
• For local authority tenants, 2018 is the first year in which you can claim a HRI credit

Details of the work

To claim the HRI credit, your contractor(s) must enter details of the work on the HRI online system. This system is only accessible to contractors who are registered for VAT and are tax-compliant.

Revenue advises applicants to log in to HRI online (see ‘Where to apply’ below) to check that their contractors have correctly entered details of the works and payments.

Checklist

You should also:

• Ensure that you have paid or arranged to pay any Local Property Tax (LPT) that is due
• Check that your contractor has a VAT number and is tax-compliant
• Ensure that the work qualifies – see 'Qualifying work' above
• If you are a local authority tenant, get written authorisation from the local authority before getting any work done
• Keep all supporting documentation – tax clearance certificates, estimates, receipts etc.
• Give the contractor the LPT Property ID of your property but not your LPT PIN or your Personal Public Service Number

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.

If you need to check whether your work qualifies for the HRI, use the Revenue Contact Locator to locate your Revenue office.