Tuition fees paid for third level education

How do you calculate the relief?

You will receive relief at the standard rate of tax, which is 20%. This is applied to the total qualifying fees once the disregard amount has been subtracted.

Note

You might pay tuition fees in instalments. The effect this has on how you calculate relief is explained in ‘Paying tuition fees in instalments’.

What are the qualifying fees?

The qualifying fee is the amount you pay for tuition fees (including the student contribution). The maximum amount you can claim is €7,000 per person per course.

The €7,000 maximum is applied to each course for each academic year.

No relief is available for additional fees such as:

  • administration fees
  • student levy
  • sports centre charge
  • and 
  • USI Levy.

What is a disregard amount?

Each claim is subject to a single disregard amount each tax year. This amount is taken away from your total qualifying fees. You cannot receive relief on the disregarded portion of the fees.

If you have paid fees for more than one course or student, you only subtract the disregard amount once. The effect of this is that claimants get full tax relief on qualifying fees and payments for subsequent students. 

There are different disregard amounts for full-time or part-time courses. The disregard amount is €3,000 in respect of a full-time course and €1,500 in respect of a part-time course.

You might pay for full-time courses and part-time courses in the same year. In this case, you should use the full-time course disregard amount.

Relief for more than one course

You might be doing more than one third-level course at the same time. There is no restriction on the number of courses you can include. You make a claim for relief on the total amount of qualifying fees you pay. Each course is restricted to a maximum of €7,000.

A single disregard amount is applied to the claim.

Relief for more than one student’s fees

You can claim relief for one or more students' tuition fees. There is no limit to the number of students or courses they do, provided you have paid the fees. The qualifying fee for each course is restricted to a maximum of €7,000.

A single disregard amount is applied to the claim.

Next: Restrictions