Everything you wanted to know about Budget 2025, but were afraid to ask.

Cost of living

• Two €125 electricity credits will be paid – one this year, one in 2025
• Minimum wage to increase by 80 cent from January 1st, 2025, rising to €13.50 an hour
• 9 per cent VAT rate on electricity and gas bills will be extended to the end of April 2025

Personal tax

• Personal, employee and earned income credits will increase by €125
• The entry point for the higher rate of income tax will increase by €2,000 to €44,000
• The 4 per cent USC rate will be cut to 3 per cent
• Inheritance tax thresholds have been increased across the board

One-off:

• Mortgage interest tax relief is to be extended for another year

Pensions and social welfare payments

• Weekly social welfare payments will go up by €12
• Weekly qualified child payments will increase by €4 for under-12s and €8 for over-12s

One-offs:

• A double bonus payment for long-term social protection payments in October
• A €400 lump sum working family payment later this year
• A €300 lump sum on the fuel allowance in November
• A €200 payment for those on the living alone allowance
• A €100 per child lump sum payment to qualified child recipients

Carers and additional needs

• A range of increases in tax credits
• The carer’s allowance means-test disregard will increase to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple; The domiciliary care allowance will increase by €20; The carer’s support grant will increase by €150
• Funding for 768 additional special education teachers and 1,600 more special needs assistants

One-off:

Budget 2025 main points: Energy credits, bonus welfare payments, higher minimum wage and tax changes

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Budget 2025 calculator: How this year’s budget will affect your income

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VAT cuts for restaurants were a bad idea last month. Why are they a good idea now?

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Got a mortgage? There is up to €2,500 in tax relief waiting for you

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• €400 lump sums in November for carer’s support grant, disability allowance, blind pension, invalidity pension and domiciliary care allowance

Schools

• The hot meals programme will expand to all schools in 2025
• Free schoolbooks for transition year and Leaving Cert students
• Funding for smartphone ban support measures such as phone pouches

One-off:

• School transport fee reductions and State exam fee waivers will be continued

Children, babies and creches

• Maternity, paternity, adoptive and parent’s payments increase by €15
• The initial payment of the children’s benefit is rising from €140 to €420 – a triple payment for the first month – in a “baby boost” measure

One-off:

• The ‘Double Double’ – two double payments of child benefit in November and December and a double payment of the foster care allowance

For business and workers

• Tax-free limit for non-cash benefits like vouchers increased by €500 to €1,500
• The Bank Levy will be extended at the current level of €200 million
• Changes to the R&D tax credit
• Investment incentive schemes extended and higher tax reliefs included

One-off:

• A €170 million energy subsidy scheme for 39,000 firms

Farmers and rural Ireland

• As part of a peace deal on the Residential Zoned Land Tax, farmers will be able to apply to have their land rezoned and be exempt from the tax
• €70 million for a range of tillage, animal health, and welfare schemes
• Funding for rural regeneration, town and village renewal programmes

Universities, students and training

• A €1.5 billion package over six years of current and capital investment for research, skills and higher education
• Increase core funding by €150 million annually

One-offs:

• The €1,000 reduction in college registration fees will continue for another year
• A 33 per cent reduction in the fee for apprentices in higher education
• A €1,000 increase in postgraduate tuition fee for student grant recipients

Housing, renters and property

• The Help to Buy scheme will be extended until the end 2029
• Higher stamp duty for bulk purchasers of homes will rise from 10 per cent to 15 per cent with immediate effect
• A new “mansion tax” of 6 per cent stamp duty will come in at midnight on properties worth €1.5 million or more
• The vacant homes tax will increase from five to seven times a property’s property tax rate from November
• €3.2 billion in capital spending on housing, including social and affordable insitatives and a target of 7,400 new social homes next year

One-off:

• The renters’ tax credit will be topped up by €250 to €1,000 per renter for this year and will stay at that level for 2025

The Health service

• Funding for 495 new beds in hospital and community services; 600,000 home support hours; increased access to IVF and hormone replacement therapies
• Expanded funding for mental health services

Trains, planes and automobiles

• Free public transport for children aged under nine
• Changes in VRT for commercial EVs
• The motor insurers compensation fund levy will come down to 0 per cent
• Free “companion pass” for over-70s on public transport

Climate

• The carbon tax will increase on October 9th for petrol and diesel. For other fuels, the rate increase will come in May 2025
• VAT on heat pumps will come down from 23 per cent to 9 per cent

Justice and defence

• An additional 350 staff for prisons; 1,000 new Garda positions to be funded and 150 civilian roles; 400 additional staff for international protection processing
• Funding for 400 new Defence Force members with the Sea-going Naval Personnel tax credit has been extended by 5 years
• 22 per cent increase in capital investment for the military, to fund military-grade radar and subsea surveillance projects

Old (and new) reliables

• €1 on a packet of cigarettes, up to €18.05 for a pack of 20
• A new tax on e-cigarettes of 50c per ml of liquid. This will bring the price of a typical disposable vape up from €8 to €9.23 and will come into place middle of next year

Sport, media and the arts

• A new tax credit for unscripted production of 20 per cent of qualifying expenditure up to €15 million
• An 8 per cent uplift under the Section 481 film production tax credit applying to feature films with an expenditure of €20 million
• Changes to tax exemptions for sport bodies investing in capital or equipment needs as well as greater flexibility on donations to sporting bodies for income tax purposes

Windfalls and future spending

• €3 billion from AIB receipts will be spent on Irish Water (€1 billion); the Land Development Agency (€1.25 billion) and EirGrid (€750 million)
• When it comes to the €14.1 billion from the Apple tax ruling, there were very few specifics. Four high-level areas for investment are water, electricity, transport and housing
• A further €6 billion will be transferred into the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund in 2025, bringing the total to €16 billion by the end of next year