Carers feel 'frightened' by tax letters from Revenue as Taoiseach says 90pc of carers would not be liable

"Revenue wrote to 34,000 family carers notifying them carer's allowance or carer's benefit have always been taxable and warning those who have not been declaring them as income they may face back-taxes. Payments to carers have always been subject to taxation but were previously self-declared. Under the new system, tax on income from the payments will be collected in real time, similar to other payments from the Department of Social Protection."

"Taoiseach Micheal Martin told the Dáil today that he believed 90pc of carers would not be liable for tax. Revenue has said it met with Family Carers Ireland and Care Alliance Ireland in April of last year to outline the new process."

"Tracy Carroll is the mother of 11-year-old Noah and nine-year-old Willow. She told RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline that Willow has complex medical needs and requires 24/7 care. While she is currently in receipt of carer's allowance, Ms Carroll says she expects to lose it following a means test assessment. "Like everybody else, anyone on carer's, they're always afraid of that letter coming in the door and now this," she said of the information sent out by Revenue. "This morning has probably been badly managed, articulated in a way that has probably frightened a lot of carers and just put that extra pressure mentally on people when they're already fighting day in, day out in a physical and mental capacity in a care role." Ms Carroll said the way this issue was managed by Revenue has "probably caused a lot of fear mongering", putting "unnecessary pressure" on carers."

Revenue notified 34,000 family carers that carer's allowance and carer's benefit have always been taxable and warned that those who did not declare them may face back-taxes. Payments to carers were previously self-declared but will now have tax collected in real time, aligned with other Department of Social Protection payments. The Taoiseach stated that about 90% of carers would likely not be liable for tax. Revenue met with Family Carers Ireland and Care Alliance Ireland in April last year to outline the new process. Carers described fear, stress, potential loss of allowances, and increased financial strain from rising living costs.

Read at Irish Independent