Couple Loses Help to Buy Appeal After Property Valuation Exceeded €500,000 Limit

Dublin: The Tax Appeals Commission has upheld a Revenue decision to reject a first-time homebuyers’ application under the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, ruling that the couple was ineligible for the tax refund because the property valuation exceeded the scheme’s maximum threshold.

The couple appealed the decision last September, arguing that they lost out on a potential €30,000 tax refund due to a typographical error made by a property valuer. However, the Commission concluded that Revenue had acted in accordance with the law.

According to the case, the mortgage approval documentation submitted by the couple’s lender recorded the value of the self-built property at €510,000. Under the Help to Buy scheme, applicants are only eligible if the value of the property does not exceed €500,000.

Revenue informed the couple that their application could not be approved because the valuation stated in the bank’s documentation was above the statutory limit.

The couple maintained that the €510,000 figure resulted from a clerical error by the valuer and argued that the actual value of the property was €500,000. They contended that the application should therefore have qualified for the scheme.

However, Revenue rejected this argument, prompting the couple to bring the matter before the Tax Appeals Commission.

In his ruling, Appeal Commissioner Joe Kenny stated that the documentation accepted by the lending institution clearly valued the property at €510,000, exceeding the maximum value permitted under the legislation.

He noted that the valuation relied upon by the bank could not be retrospectively altered for the purpose of qualifying for the scheme, even if it was later claimed that the figure resulted from an error.

Commissioner Kenny said that while he regretted the outcome for the couple, the legislation did not provide any discretion to overlook the statutory limit. As a result, he found that the applicants were not entitled to payment under the Help to Buy scheme and confirmed that Revenue’s decision to refuse the application was correct.

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