Mortgage Interest Supplement

Rules

The Mortgage Interest Supplement (MIS) scheme is closed to new entrants from 1 January 2014 and will be wound down for existing recipients over a 4-year period.

To qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement you must meet the following conditions:

• You must have made an application before 1 January 2014
• You must satisfy the means test
• You must have entered into and complied with an alternative repayment arrangement with your mortgage lender for at least 12 months
• You must have been able to afford the repayments when your loan agreement was first agreed
• The amount of your mortgage interest payable is not more than what the Department considers reasonable to meet your residential and other needs*
• Only the portion of your loan that relates to the essential purchase, repair or maintenance of your home is taken into account
• The size of the arrears are not greater than what the Department considers reasonable
• You are habitually resident in this State

*In exceptional circumstances, the Department’s representative may award a supplement where the amount of mortgage interest payable by a person exceeds the amount the Department’s representative considers reasonable to meet his or her residential and other needs. This supplement is payable for a maximum of 12 months from the date of the claim.

You can get MIS if your house is for sale. This means that people can engage in selling their home and continue to be eligible for MIS, subject to the other conditions of the MIS scheme.

You won’t qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if:

• You or your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant works more than 29 hours a week (for exceptions to this rule - see ‘Employment and Mortgage Interest Supplement' below)
• You are involved in a trade dispute
• You are attending full-time education (for exceptions to this rule - see 'Education and Mortgage Interest Supplement' below)
• You are unlawfully in the State
• You have made an application for asylum under the Refugee Act, 1996 and your application is awaiting final decision by the Minister for Justice and Equality
• You have made an application under the Aliens Act, 1935 to remain in the State and this application has not been determined
• You are admitted to an institution (for example, a hospital) for a period of in excess of 13 weeks

Employment and Mortgage Interest Supplement

You will not qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if you are in full-time employment. That is, employment for 29 hours per week or more. (In the case of couples, if one of a couple is in full time employment, both are excluded from claiming Mortgage Interest Supplement). However, there are special retention arrangements that may allow you to keep a proportion of your Mortgage Interest Supplement - for example, if you are participating in a Community Employment Scheme or getting a Back to Work Allowance or Back to Work Enterprise Allowance. Your gross household income must not exceed €317.43 per week. Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, Family Income Supplement (FIS), PRSI, reasonable travel expenses and any childcare allowance payable on certain training courses is not taken into account in the assessment of your gross household income.

Under these special retention arrangements you will continue to get 75% of your Mortgage Interest Supplement rate during your first year in employment, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third and fourth year. After the fourth year you will no longer be entitled to Mortgage Interest Supplement if you are in employment.

These retention arrangements also apply to people who have been unemployed for 12 months or more and who return to full-time employment and sign off their social welfare payment. In these cases gross household income must not exceed €317.43 per week.

Education and Mortgage Interest Supplement

You won’t qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if you are attending full-time education. However, if you are getting Mortgage Interest Supplement and qualify for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), you will keep an entitlement to Mortgage Interest Supplement.

Means test for Mortgage Interest Supplement

When you apply for Mortgage Interest Supplement your means will be assessed. This will show how much of the mortgage interest you are able to pay. A means test examines all your sources of income. However, some income is not taken into account in the calculation of your means. You may qualify for Mortgage Interest Supplement if your income is below a certain amount and you meet the other conditions - see 'Rules' above.

Income taken into account for Mortgage Interest Supplement

• Net income from employment (this is gross income less PRSI and reasonable travel expenses. A child dependant aged 17 and under in full-time education will not have their income from employment taken into account for Mortgage Interest Supplement.)
• Social welfare payments (there are some exceptions - see 'Income not taken into account' below)
• Family Income Supplement
• Cash income (for example, maintenance)
• All income and the value of all property of which you may have deprived yourself in order to qualify
• Capital (for example, savings, investments and property but not your own home)

The capital value of property (except your own home), savings and investments are assessed on a weekly basis as follows:

Redundancy payments

A redundancy or lump sum payment will be assessed as capital, unless it has been used to reduce the balance of your mortgage or other outstanding loans.

Income not taken into account when calculating Mortgage Interest Supplement

When calculating your Mortgage Interest Supplement, the following income is not taken into account:

• An amount equal to the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) rate for your household circumstances
• Child Benefit
• Mobility Allowance
• Foster care payments from the Health Service Executive (HSE)
• Payments for accommodating children under the Child Care Act
• Income from Gaeltacht students
• Grants or allowances from schemes promoting the welfare of blind people
• Money received from charitable organisations, for example, St Vincent de Paul
• Compensation awarded by the Compensation Tribunal in respect of Hepatitis C contracted from certain blood products, to those who have disabilities caused by Thalidomide and to those receiving compensation under the Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Maintenance grants paid by VECs or local authorities for educational purposes (now replaced by the Student Grant Scheme)
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Respite Care Grant
• Guardian's Payment (Contributory) and Guardian's Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Fuel Allowance and the Living Alone Allowance
• Pensioners: If you are aged 65 or over (or where one of a couple is of pensionable age) and have a combined household income greater than the rate of SWA appropriate to your household circumstances, the difference between the maximum rate of State Pension (Contributory) appropriate to your circumstance and the rate of SWA appropriate to your circumstances is not taken into account.
• Carers' payments: The half-rate Carer's Allowance is never taken into account.
• If you are getting Carer's Allowance, the amount of Carer's Allowance above the appropriate SWA rate for your situation (either the qualified adult rate for a couple or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account. So if you are one of a couple and getting Carer's Allowance the amount of Carer's Allowance being paid less the SWA qualified adult rate is not taken into account and if you are single or a lone parent the amount disregarded is the rate of Carer's Allowance being paid less the personal rate of SWA.
• Any amount of Carer's Benefit in excess of the basic SWA rate for your situation (either the qualified adult rate or the personal rate of SWA) is not taken into account.
• Rehabilitative earnings disregard: A certain amount of your income from rehabilitative work is not taken into account. If you are getting Disability Allowance or Blind Pension, €120 from rehabilitative training or employment is not taken into account in the assessment for Mortgage Interest Supplement. Any earnings over €120 from rehabilitative training or employment will affect your Mortgage Interest Supplement. If you are earning above €120 you can be assessed using whichever disregard is most in your interest - either the Rehabilitative earnings disregard or the Household income disregard (but not both).
• Household income disregard: A certain amount of your household income above the appropriate SWA rate is not taken into account. €75 of any additional household income* is not taken into account. Also, 25% of additional household income over €75 is not taken into account. There is no upper limit on the amount that can be disregarded.

*Additional household income is income from part-time employment or part-time self-employment, Family Income Supplement, Community Employment (CE), Back to Work Allowance, Back to Enterprise Allowance or FÁS course. Maintenance is also assessed as additional household income (see below).

Maintenance and Mortgage Interest Supplement

Maintenance is assessed as additional household income (see above) and maintenance payments up to €95.23 per week are assessed in full. The household income disregard (see above) applies to maintenance payments above this amount. For example, if your only additional household income is maintenance, all of your maintenance payment up to €95.23 per week is assessed in full. The household income disregard of €75 applies to sums above this, so that any maintenance between €95.23 and €170.23 is not taken into account. 25% of all maintenance over €170.23 is also not taken into account.

Your contribution to mortgage interest (Household Contribution)

You must pay at least €30 towards your mortgage interest. You may pay more than €30 because you must also contribute any means you have towards your mortgage interest. If you are one of a couple and are claiming Mortgage Interest Supplement you must pay at least €40 towards your mortgage interest.