Budget 2016 Summary

A summary of all the main Irish Budget 2016 details and changes are listed below .

Tobacco: 50c on a pack of 20 cigarettes

Alcohol – no changes

USC rates cut and thresholds raised  –  resulting in  €772 million of extra take home income for workers : See details of USC Changes Here

Capital Acquisitions Tax :  (Inheritance Tax) The Tax free threshold for Category A raised from €225k to €280k  (This applies mainly to gifts and inheritances from parents to their childre) Effective 14 October 2015.

Home Renovation Incentive  – The HRI  scheme is being extended  for another year until 31 December 2016.

Property Tax – No property revaluation until 2019 (it was due in 2017)

Income Tax : A €550 tax credit for non PAYE earners.
Plus An increase in the Home Carer Tax Credit from €810 to
€1,000, and increase in the home carer’s income  threshold from €5,080 to €7,200.

Water Charges Tax relief remains at 20% (Max €100) – as per Budget 2015 – (Most people probably forgot this even existed – it is worth €52 a year in reduced income tax to someone paying the current maximum water charge of €260.)

Corporation Tax reductions in certain cases – details here

PRSI : €12 max weekly PSRI credit (tapered) to be introduced.  PRSI Detailed Information Here

VAT  : 9% Vat rate on tourism related services remains the same

Card Payment Fees:  Bank Debit card fees for retailers reduced to .1%

Customer Stamp Duty on debit cards abolished and  replaced with 12c per  ATM transaction – which will be capped at max €2.50 for ATM only cards or max €5 for full debit cards. More details Here on ATM Charges

Commercial Road Tax  – 20 existing rates replaced with just 5 rates – lower in many cases. Max rate of €900 – reduced from over €5000 . New Rates Here

Minimum Wage : Increases as by 50c an hour as expected – details here

Paternity Benefit  : Statutory paternity leave of 2 weeks is to be introduced, together with a new Paternity Benefit, in respect of births from September 2016.

Social Welfare

State Pension increase of €3 a week and a also €3 weekly increase for carers aged 66 and over. Increases for Qualified Adults aged under 66 years will go up by €2 and increases for qualified adults aged 66 years or over will go up by €2.70 a week.

Respite Care Grant   (now called Carer’s Support Grant) will increase by €325 to €1,700 per year for each person being cared for (from June 2016).

Childcare :  From September 2016, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme will be extended to children aged between 3 years and 5 years 6 months, or until they start primary school. Children will be able to enroll in pre-school at three different points in the year (September, January and April) in order to access the scheme.

Christmas Bonus for Social Welfare Recipients : increased from 25% of the full rate to 75% – full details here

Child Benefit : Increased by €5 per month to €140 a month for all children from Jan 2016

Fuel Allowance : Increase from €20 to €22.50 a week from Jan 2016

FIS  Threshold increased by €5 a week for 1 child households and by €10 a week for households with 2 or more children.

Others –  From Jan 2016 there will be an increase of €2.50 per week in top-up payments paid towards meals and travel costs for Community Employment (CE), Rural Social Scheme (RSS), Gateway, Job Initiative, Tús and JobBridge participants.Jobseeker’s Transitional payment.

The earnings disregard for Lone Parents who go on to Jobseeker’s Transitional payment will increase from €60 to €90 per week for existing and new recipients. All earnings above €90 will be assessed at 50% rather than the current assessment of 60% (January 2016).

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Summary of Previous Budget 2015 Here