Home Care Financial Assistance

Employed person taking care of an incapacitated individual

Employing a care giver for yourself or a family member i.e spouse, civil partner, child or a relative, including a relation through marriage or civil partnership is a huge step. One that you need to be 100% comfortable with, both emotionally and financially.

As an employer of a carer you are entitled to claim tax relief on this cost, provided the care is for yourself or a family member. This includes employing a carer from an agency or using an agency’s services, such as ourselves. Charitable/voluntary organisations such as the Alzheimer’s society of Ireland also fall under this home care financial assistance.

Tax allowances and reliefs reduce the amount of tax that you have to pay. As of January 2015 you are entitled to claim tax relief for employing a carer up to the cost of €75,000 (previous to this it was €50,000) for each incapacitated individual. This is a tax relief rate of 41%.

If employing a care giver yourself, you have duties and responsibility towards your care givers. You must ensure they receive the following:

• Employment contract : (minimum wage rate, hours, holidays)
• Payslips
• Employee’s tax
• Social insurance

If you decide to go through an agency for care, these responsibilities fall on the agency. If you wish to take this route, you are still eligible to claim tax relief on the cost of care through an agency.

To claim this tax relief the individual receiving care must be fully incapacitated from the tax year starting January through to December. However the care giver does NOT have to be employed for this period of time.

If you have been granted Dependent Relative Tax Credit (section 466) or an Incapacitated Child Tax Credit (section 465) you are not eligible for this tax relief.

If you wish to apply for this tax relief you can submit your P60 and your spouses if required to your local Revenue office.

If you are a PAYE tax payer and wish to apply for this tax relief you can download the following pdf tax relief for employing a carer on form HK 1 (pdf) or contact the your local Revenue office (all numbers available at http://www.revenue.ie/en/contact/lo-call.html )

To discuss this and any other queries please contact myhomecareie.wpengine.com.