The Help to Buy Scheme
The Help to Buy (HTB) scheme is an incentive for first-time property purchasers. It will help you with the deposit you need to purchase or self-build a new house or apartment. You must purchase or self-build the property to live in as your home.
Where you meet the required conditions, you will receive a refund of:
- Irish Income Tax
- and
- Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) you paid in Ireland.
The refund will be from the four tax years prior to when you make your application. The refund will not include any refunds you have already claimed.
Enhanced HTB scheme
With the enhanced HTB scheme, applicants who satisfy certain conditions can claim an increased relief up to a maximum of €30,000. The enhanced HTB scheme is applicable from 23 July 2020 to 31 December 2025. The original HTB scheme applies from 1 January 2017 to 22 July 2020.
Who can claim HTB?
To claim HTB, you must:
- be a first-time purchaser at the time of the claim
- purchase, or self-build, a qualifying property between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2025
- live in the property as your main home for five years after you purchase or self-build it
- be tax compliant and, where relevant, have tax clearance in place. For more details please see What do you need to do before you apply
- and
- take out a mortgage on the property with a qualifying lender. The mortgage must be at least 70% of the:
- purchase value of the property
- or
- approved valuation, in the case of a self-build.
How much can you claim?
Under the enhanced HTB scheme, the amount that you can claim is the lesser of:
- €30,000
- 10% of the purchase value of a new home or of the approved valuation of the property, in the case of self-builds
- or
- the amount of Income Tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) you have paid for the four years prior to your application.