Finance Act 2009

Chapter 3

Income Tax

Amendment of section 244 (relief for interest paid on certain home loans) of Principal Act.

3.— As respects the year of assessment 2009 and subsequent years of assessment, section 244 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after subsection (1)—

“(1A) (a) This section shall not apply as respects interest paid on or after 1 May 2009.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), this section shall continue to apply—

(i) as respects the first 7 years of assessment for which an individual has an entitlement to relief under this section in respect of qualifying interest determined by reference to paragraph (iii) or (iv) of the definition of ‘relievable interest ’, and

(ii) as respects a period not exceeding 7 years of assessment for which an individual has an entitlement to relief under this section in respect of qualifying interest in relation to a qualifying loan.

(c) (i) Paragraph (b) shall not apply in respect of qualifying interest attributable to that part of a qualifying loan used to repay another qualifying loan (in this paragraph referred to as an ‘existing qualifying loan’) unless the qualifying interest on that existing qualifying loan would, had the existing qualifying loan not been repaid, have been interest referred to in paragraph (b)(i) or (ii).

(ii) Where subparagraph (i) applies, the number of years of assessment for which there is an entitlement to relief under this section in respect of qualifying interest attributable to that part of a qualifying loan used to repay the existing qualifying loan shall not exceed the number of years of assessment for which relief would have applied had the existing qualifying loan not been repaid.

(d) As respects the year of assessment 2009 only, the definition of ‘relievable interest’ is amended—

(i) in paragraph (i) by substituting ‘the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the period 1 January 2009 to 30 April 2009 or, if less, €2,000 and the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the period 1 May 2009 to 31 December 2009 or, if less, €4,000’ for ‘the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the year of assessment or, if less, €6,000’, and

(ii) in paragraph (ii) by substituting ‘the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the period 1 January 2009 to 30 April 2009 or, if less, €1,000 and the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the period 1 May 2009 to 31 December 2009 or, if less, €2,000’ for ‘the amount of qualifying interest paid by the individual in the year of assessment or, if less, €3,000’.”.