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Rent-a-Room Relief

  1. Overview
  2. What conditions must be met?
  3. What type of residence qualifies?
  4. How to claim Rent-A-Room Relief
  5. How does it affect other reliefs and taxes?

What type of residence qualifies?

Sole or main residence

Your main residence is your home for most of the year and where friends would expect to find you. You do not have to own the property to claim relief.

The room or rooms must be in a residential property that is located in Ireland. You must use it as your main residence during the tax year.

  • Example 1

    Liam and Aisling, who are jointly-assessed, live in a rented property. They decided to rent a room to university students for the 2022 academic year.

    They received gross rent of €12,000 in the 2022 tax year. As the income for 2022 was lower than the exemption limit (€14,000 for 2022), Rent-a-Room Relief applied. 

Self-contained unit

The rented room or rooms can be a self-contained unit within the house, such as a basement flat or a converted garage.

If this unit is not attached to the property it cannot qualify for the relief.

  • Example 2

    Dan and Kate, who are separately assessed for tax purposes, converted the attic and garage of their property to provide student accommodation. 

    They commenced letting both converted rooms and in 2023 received a gross rent of €8,000 for the attic and €5,000 for the garage. The garage was not attached to the main residence and did not qualify for Rent-a-Room Relief. As Dan and Kate each received 50% of the rents, they could claim Rent-a-Room Relief of €4,000 each for the attic room. The gross rents of €2,500 they each received for the garage had to be declared as rental income in their Income Tax Returns. 

Business use or guest accommodation

Your tenants must use the room on a long-term basis. You cannot claim relief on rooms that are used for commercial purposes.

Note

Short-term stays provided through bed and breakfasts, a guesthouse or online-booking sites do not qualify for relief.

Next: How to claim Rent-A-Room Relief

Published: 23 May 2024 Print this page

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