With warmer and brighter times fast approaching, some of us may be satisfied to just dust off the winter cobwebs in our homes while others may have more exuberant plans.

It may have been that sleek contemporary kitchen you saw on Pinterest or that jaw dropping lavish house extension Dermot Bannon curated on one of his recent series.  Or maybe that lux spa like new bathroom fit-out in your neighbour’s house – that has you green with envy.  Most of us tend to compare what we have with others and then of course aspire to a certain way of living within our own space.

Renovating your property all too often can be placed on the back burner as we can easily find reasons to put off anything that may invite stress into our already busy lifestyles.  Endless decisions, dust and disruption never mind the cost of renovating your home can all act as deterrents.

However, if you ever needed an excuse to get moving with your home refurbishment - here it is!  From today you have less than 250 days to plan, execute and pay for your home renovations – if you want to avail of the current Government Home Renovation Incentive Scheme (HRI).

Getting work done on your home or rental property?

The Home Renovation Incentive Scheme is available to homeowners or landlords to claim an income tax credit on improvements, repairs and renovations on their principle home or rental property by HRI qualifying contractors.  A claim can be made for a single project or several projects. 

The tax credit is based on work subject to 13.5 VAT.   The incentive applies to qualifying work completed and paid for before the 31st of December 2017.  A qualifying contractor is a contractor who is registered for VAT and RCT and is tax compliant. To claim, your Local Property Tax needs to be up-to-date.

Prior to engaging with your building contractor, you should determine if they are in fact qualifying contractors.  The HRI qualifying contractor should enter the work details on HRI online before the work starts and then enter the payment details as they are received.  Homeowners and landlords need to check that the work and the payment details have been entered on the HRI online.

The amount you spend on qualifying works will determine the amount of your HRI tax credit. The minimum qualifying spend per property is €4,405.00 (before VAT) allowing you to claim a tax credit of €595 and the maximum tax spend to claim is €44,052 (before VAT) resulting in a tax credit of €4,050.

Taxing times, so make your claim.

The works covered by the HRI is wide ranging, for example home extensions, window, kitchen and bathroom replacements, painting and decorating along with garden landscaping.  Furniture, white goods, and flooring are subject to VAT at 23% so are not covered by HRI.

For PAYE taxpayers, the tax credits will be included in your tax credits over two years, starting the year after the work is carried out and paid for.  For self-assessed taxpayers, the tax credit will be included in their self-assessment spread evenly over two years.

It will be 2018 before you can claim the first HRI tax credits. Your HRI tax credits will be included in your tax credits over two years, starting the year after the work is carried out and paid for. If you are on PAYE, the HRI will be evenly spread throughout the two years.

If you check out www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/hri/ you will find out everything you need to know.

The process is very easy and straight forward with no long-winded application forms involved. There are just a few simple steps you and your qualifying contractors need to take care of.

Placelift’s easy guide to the Home Renovation Incentive Scheme (HRI):

• Start planning your home renovations as soon as possible.
• Seek the help of the professionals if you are having difficulty planning.
• Plan to get all your qualifying works completed in one go or phased.
• Set your budget and timescale.
• Strictly only engage with qualifying registered HRI scheme contractors, otherwise you will not be able to claim.
• Make it clear at the outset your intention to avail of this scheme.
• Provide your Local Property Tax (LPT) number to your contractor requesting them to enter your works details on HRI online.
• Check that your proposed works have been entered on HRI online by using your LPT number to access.
• Once the works have been executed and you have paid your building contractors, ensure they entered your payment details correctly.
• Claim back the total qualifying spend, throughout 2018 and 2019 in the form of tax credits.

Worth noting, that in last year’s budget (2016), the HRI scheme was extended until the end of 2017, but be warned there is no guarantee of another extension.  Unfortunately, if you wait until the budget, you may find it near on impossible to book a reputable and experience building services provider prior to Christmas – so keep this in mind. 

If you have any questions regarding the HRI scheme, please get in touch with Placelift 01 2548070.