Get the best from Stay and Spend
The Stay and Spend scheme has been rightly lambasted for many reasons.
It excludes non-taxpayers, takeaway meals and any spending in one go under €25.
It’s also a tax credit at the lower rate of tax – so you must spend €600 and keep all your receipts for up to year in order to get just €125 worth of tax credits.
It also doesn’t work for alcohol – or takeaway food and drinks – which seems contrary to Government policy on Covid-19. Why discourage people from getting one of those extra-nice takeaway meals now laid on by top restaurants and instead have to sit inside and risk spreading or contracting the virus? however, we can make more of it, if we play our cards right.
Stay and Spend is wrongly understood as a tax break only for ‘staycationing’ – i.e. holidays in Ireland – but you don’t have to be on holiday to claim it. You can also use it to save money if you go down the road for a meal out in your own locality.
‘Too few people realise that they can also avail of it in their local restaurants and cafes,’ said Marian Ryan, consumer tax manager with Taxback.com.
Another underappreciated element of the scheme is that you can claim in two tax years. This doubles the potential benefit – and means you can claim for this year’s spending at the end of the month – and next year’s in just over 12 months’ time.
You can also download an app – called Revenue Receipts Tracker – as a handy way to log and keep receipts. Or just snap a picture of the receipt on your phone and claim when you fill out an end-of-year tax return.