With the new Stay and Spend Tax Credit now in effect until 30 April 2021, there is an opportunity to get some tax back from your Irish holistay for the remainder of the year and well into 2021. But how does this incentive work?

Who is eligible?

Any taxpayer in Ireland is eligible to redeem their Spend and Stay Tax Credit. However, the credit is only eligible on spends over €25 made with businesses registered with Fáilte Ireland.

The scheme will cover purchases of accomodation, food and non-alcoholic beverages. You don’t have to be away from home to avail of the tax rebate; you simply need to make qualifying purchases – these purchases could be within your own locality.

Expenses under €25, takeaway meals, alcoholic drinks or drinks served without food are not redeemable.

Qualifying businesses

Only purchases from qualifying businesses will be redeemable. You can check if a business is registered by looking for a Stay and Spend Tax Credit logo or by finding the list of qualifying service providers at revenue.ie – businesses can also register online to become qualifying service providers.

How much?

You can save receipts amounting up to €625 per person, or €1,250 per married couple. If submitting the maximum amount, you can get up to €125 back per person or €250 per married couple in the form of an income tax credit. This credit will reduce the amount of income tax you have to pay.

How to claim?

First of all, save your receipts. The easiest way to make a claim is to download the Revenue Receipts Tracker mobile app. You can scan receipts directly to your phone, but you must have your account set up.

You can also use the receipt tracker service if you use myAccount on the Revenue website.

Then, make an electronic claim for the tax credit. You can make the claim on your income tax return for 2020. Depending on whether you are self-employed or not, you will need either a Form 11 or Form 12; both of which will be available from 1 January, 2021. Receipts should be submitted before the income tax return.

Detailed information on this process can be found on Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual, which is available online.

Benefiting local business

In correspondence with Irish Country Living, the Irish Revenue office says it is estimated that up to 2.7 million taxpayers could qualify for the Stay and Spend tax credit, which represents expenditure of up to €1.7bn on qualifying holiday accommodation, food and drink between the appointed dates.

They believe participating businesses will benefit directly from increased footfall and the expenditure the scheme will generate.

“The Stay and Spend Scheme provides a timely and much-needed boost to the tourism and hospitality sector by encouraging people to book accommodation and eat out through the autumn and winter months,” a representative writes.

“To support the scheme, Fáilte Ireland has embarked on a national promotional campaign to ensure the general public are aware and, importantly, encourage businesses to register so they can avail of the additional demand this scheme will stimulate.”

While the following guide offers the information needed to benefit from the credit as it’s currently planned, this scheme could change. Speaking with Pat Kenny on Newstalk, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he plans to monitor the scheme to “see how it works”.

“When we designed this scheme, and launched it, we were launching it in the anticipation then, that our economy would be on the way to being fully open, and there would be full mobility across our country,” he said. “We know that’s not the case now, for a number of reasons.”