The Help to Buy (HTB) scheme helps first-time buyers of newly-built homes to buy a new house or apartment. It also applies to once-off self-build homes.
It only applies to properties costing €500,000 or less.
The Help to Buy scheme gives a refund of income tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) paid in Ireland over the previous 4 tax years.
If you are a first-time buyer who either buys or self-builds a new residential property between 19 July 2016 and 31 December 2024, you may be able to claim a refund of income tax and DIRT that you paid over the previous 4 tax years.
If you are buying or self-building the property with someone else, they must also be a first-time buyer. You will not qualify if you have previously bought or built a property, either individually or jointly with anyone else, even if you are now separated or divorced from that person.
The scheme only applies to properties that are bought or built as the first-time buyer’s home. It does not cover investment properties. If you have inherited or been gifted a property, it will not affect your eligibility.
You must take out a mortgage of at least 70% of the purchase price (or, for a self-build, 70% of the valuation approved by the mortgage provider). This is known as the loan to value ratio. You are allowed to have a guarantor on the loan. A guarantor is someone who agrees to have the responsibility to pay your mortgage if you don't or can't pay it, for example, a parent or close relative.
You must live in the property for 5 years otherwise some or all of the relief may be clawed-back.
If you pay tax through PAYE, you must be registered for Revenue’s online myAccount service. If you are a self-assessed taxpayer, you must be registered for the Revenue Online Service (ROS).
In all cases, you must be fully tax-compliant for the 4 years immediately before your claim.
If you have not already done so, you will need to complete online Form 12 (PAYE) and Form 11 (self-assessed) for each of those 4 years. You must also pay any outstanding taxes that are due.
If you sign a contract for a new house or draw down on a self-build mortgage between 23 July 2020 and 31 December 2022, you are eligible for the increased relief. This is called enhanced relief.
You can claim relief on the lesser of:
If you have already made an application under the original scheme, you may meet the enhanced requirements. You should cancel your original application and reapply to avail of the increased relief.
You can read more about the Enhanced Help to Buy Scheme on Revenue.ie.
All other conditions of the scheme stay the same.
| Purchase price or valuation | 1 January 2017 to 23 July 2020 | 23 July 2020 to 31 December 2022 |
| Up to €500,000 | Relief of up to 5% of purchase price or €20,000 | Relief of up to 10% of purchase price or 10% of valuation price on completion or €30,000 |
| Over €500,000 | No relief | No relief |
There are two stages to the application process:
If you are a PAYE employee only, you can apply for the Help to Buy scheme through Revenue’s myAccount service.
If you are a self-assessed taxpayer, you can apply through Revenue’s Online Service (ROS).
You will also need access to MyEnquiries. This is a secure method of corresponding with Revenue.
You can get full details of the process from Revenue.
Read more about the Help to Buy scheme and how to apply on Revenue.ie. You can also read Revenue’s Summary Guide for full details on the HTB process.