Tax Credits & Reliefs >> Tax Credits- Tuition Fees and Training Courses

Tags: 3'rd level courses, tax refunds, tax claims

The maximum allowable amount for tax relief is €5,000 for the academic years 2006/7, 2007/8, 2008/9, & 2009/10. Tax relief is allowed at the 20% rate up to the maximum figure of €5,000, which gives a maximum tax credit of €1,000 per qualifying course. It is important to note that tax relief is allowed per fee per qualifying course. This means that parents paying for more than one course at a time for different children will be entitled to a maximum claim of €5,000 for each course in respect of each child for that particular year. Tax relief is not available for Registration Fees.

There has been a big reduction in the amount that can be claimed for the year 2011. No relief will be allowed for the first €2,000 of fees paid for full time courses or the first €1,000 for part time courses.

For the years up to 2006, the payment of the fees had to be for yourself , your spouse or a dependent. From 2007 onwards the relationship requirement no longer applies. 

The relief is allowed for undergraduate fulltime and parttime courses of at least 2 years duration. Certain postgraduate courses also qualify. Generally these claims relate to either private colleges or else part time qualifying courses in the main universities/ private colleges.

Tax relief is also available for certain Training Courses in the Information Technology and Foreign Languages areas. The tax relief is allowed at 20% on fees costing from €315 to a maximum of €1,270.

This claim is often overlooked by parents who are paying fees for children attending private colleges. It is not too late to make a claim for the last four tax years if not already done so ie for the years 2007 to 2010 inclusive.

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