The Homecaring Spouse Allowance is available to a spouse in a one-earner family who is caring in the home for a child who is eligible for Child Benefit or for an aged or handicapped person. There are qualifying conditions and the Carer can have an income of up to £4,000 per annum and continue to get the full Home Carer's Allowance. This Allowance will not be awarded automatically - you must apply for same. Separated spouses may be taxed singly or jointly. One Parent Family Allowance applies to a single or widowed person if you can show that the child resided with you for at least part of the year. This relief is not available to an unmarried couple living together. Dependent Relative Allowance is claimable if you support a widowed mother or incapacitated relative whose income does not exceed the contributory OAP. A parent with dependent children who is widowed gets an additional tax credit in each of the five subsequent tax years of £2,000, £1,600, £1,200, £800 and £400 respectively. Certain expenses carry a 20% tax credit Mortgage interest up to £2,000 (single), £4,000 (married/widowed), for first time buyers up to £2,500 and £5,000 for the first five years Health insurance paid in the previous year Rent to a private landlord up to a maximum of £1,000 (single), £2,000 (married/widowed), and, if you are aged 55 or over, up to £2,000 and £4,000 respectively. Trade Union Subscriptions: A new tax relief for members' subscription to Trade Unions has been introduced. The maximum relief available is £100 p.a. at 20% which gives a tax credit of £20. Service Charges: The maximum tax relief available for charges for refuse collection in respect of the "tag" system has been increased from £50 p.a. to £150 p.a. with effect from 6 April 2001. Certain expenses are still allowable at your top rate of tax. These are: Unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of £100 (individual) and £200 (family). Maternity care is now fully allowable. You can also claim for the medical expenses of a dependent relative regardless of their means. An incapacitated person or one or more of their family can claim up to £10,000 to enable employment of a home help. Back to Work Allowance if previously unemployed or on disability allowance for 12 months or more - of £3,000 plus £1,000 for each child in year 1, and two-thirds of these allowances in year 2, one-third in year 3. These allowances will be granted in two parts: a tax credit derived from granting the allowance at 20% and an additional amount added to your standard rate cut off income equal to 1.1 times the allowable expense. Tax credits which are unused are not refundable. They will be carried forward from week to week during a tax year, but if unused after the end of the tax year, they are lost. Contributions to a pension scheme (of up to 15% of gross earnings) and for permanent health benefits (i.e. to provide income maintenance during illness) are entirely free of income tax and of PRSI. You can top up your pension benefits by making tax free Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) to bring them up to 15% of income. If you are retiring you can put a lump sum into your pension scheme on which you can retrospectively get tax relief for the previous ten years. Self-employed people are allowed 15-30% (depending on age) pension contributions. Age Income Exemption: If your total does not exceed the following limits, no income tax is paid.

	Budget 2001	Short Year Tax
Single/Widowed
General Limit (under 65 years of age)	£4,100	£3,034	(plus £333 for each of first two children, £481 each thereafter)
65 years of age and over	£8,500	£6,290
Married
General Limit (under 65 years of age)	£8,200	£6,068
65 years of age and over	£17,000	£12,580

If income does not greatly exceed these amounts, you can claim this exemption and pay 40% on the excess. Levies Levies apply to gross incomes (less pension contributions and permanent health benefit) as follows: Health 2% of all income Social Insurance (full rate) 4.0% up to £28,250 Social Insurance (self-employed) 3% all income All workers are exempt from Social Insurance if they earn less that £226 per week. Employees on full rate PRSI do not pay Social Insurance on the first £100 of their weekly earnings. Reduced rate contributors do not pay on the first £20 of their weekly earnings. Medical Card holders and Lone Parents on Social Welfare and employees earning less than £280 per week do not have to pay health levy. Persons over 66 pay health levy but no social insurance. Covenants: Unrestricted Covenants can only be taken out in favour of an incapacitated person (for a parent's covenant the person must also be 18 or over). Covenants restricted to 5% of your income may be taken out in favour of a person aged 65 or over, or in favour of a college for research or teaching of the natural sciences. Farming: The 25% stock relief and the 100% stock relief for young trained farmers will be extended for a further 2 years from 6 April 2001, subject to EU approval. CGT/Stamp Duty: Parent to child site transfer (on or after 6 December 2000) for purpose of construction of child's principal private residence - exempt from CGT/Stamp Duty (limited to one site with a maximum value of £200,000 per child.) Farmers: Reinvestment period for roll-over relief extended to 2 years before and 4 years after CPO (1 to 4 years for CAT) Probate Tax: Probate Tax is being abolished in respect of deaths occurring on or after 6 December 2000. Return to Help Centre

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