Stay and Spend Scheme

Overview

The Stay and Spend Tax Credit was a tax credit introduced for the years 2020 and 2021. It was used against an Income Tax or Universal Social Charge (USC) liability in a year of assessment.

The Stay and Spend credit was introduced for qualifying expenditure incurred between 1 October 2020 and 30 April 2021.

Qualifying expenditure incurred between 1 October 2020 and 31 December 2020 was available to be claimed until 31 December 2024. Qualifying expenditure incurred between 1 January 2021 and 30 April 2021 was available to be claimed until 31 December 2025.

This included expenditure on either:

• holiday accommodation
• or
• ’eat in’ food and drink.

The minimum spend was €25 per transaction.

A ‘qualifying service provider’ must have provided the service. Qualifying service providers are those who had registered with Revenue to participate in the scheme.

The maximum tax credit available under the scheme was €125 per person. The maximum tax credit available for those under joint assessment was €250.

The tax credit was used to reduce your Income Tax liability. Any excess credit may then be off set against your liability to USC. You must have had an Income Tax or USC liability to offset against the credit to claim it.

Due to the '4-year rule', the final date for claiming the Stay and Spend Tax Credit for year 2021 was 31 December 2025.

Next: What is qualifying expenditure