How does the Help-to-Buy scheme work? A complete guide

Buying your first home comes with enough financial pressure without wondering whether you can even afford the deposit. Ireland’s enhanced Help-to-Buy (HTB) scheme exists to ease exactly that pressure, giving first-time buyers a tax refund of up to €30,000 or 10% of the purchase price (whichever is lower) on new or self-built homes. 

Originally set to expire at the end of 2025, the scheme has been extended to 31 December 2029, giving qualifying buyers more breathing room as property prices and construction costs remain high.

What is the Help-to-Buy scheme?

HTB refunds the Income Tax and DIRT you’ve paid in Ireland over the previous four tax years, up to a cap of €30,000, on new homes or self-builds priced at €500,000 or less.

Where that money actually goes, and when, depends on how you’re buying:

• Buying a new build: the refund is paid directly to your Qualifying Contractor and used to reduce the deposit you owe. In practice, this means the relief is built into your deposit at completion rather than something you receive afterwards.
• Self-building: the refund is paid into the nominated bank account you hold with your mortgage provider, where it can be drawn on as part of your build’s stage payments.

Either way, HTB is designed to help you get over the deposit line, not as a reimbursement for costs like furnishing once you’ve moved in, though it can free up your own savings for exactly that. 

Am I eligible for the Help-to-Buy scheme?

To qualify, you’ll need to meet all of the following:

1. First-time buyer status. You and your buying partner (if applicable) must never have purchased or built a home before, in Ireland or abroad.
2. Tax compliant in Ireland. You must have paid Income Tax and/or DIRT in Ireland over the four tax years before your claim, and be fully up to date with your returns. (Just to note, you don’t necessarily need to have full 4 years of paying taxes to qualify but if your time is less than 4 years, the claim can potentially be lower than the full  30,000e refund
3. A qualifying property. This applies only to new homes or self-builds located in the Republic of Ireland, priced at €500,000 or less, that have never previously been used or suitable for use as a residential property.
4. A qualifying mortgage. You’ll need a mortgage of at least 70% of the purchase price (or approved valuation, for self-builds) with a qualifying lender.
5. Contract dates. You must sign your purchase contract, or draw down the first tranche of a self-build mortgage, between 23 July 2020 and 31 December 2029.

On that last point, it’s worth knowing that signing contracts isn’t the same as completion; contracts are typically signed a number of weeks before you get the keys, once you’ve gone sale agreed and your solicitor has carried out the necessary checks. It’s the contract signing date (or first mortgage drawdown for self-builds) that determines your HTB eligibility window, not your moving-in date.

How much relief can I claim?

Your relief is the lowest of three figures: 10% of the purchase price, €30,000, or the total Income Tax and DIRT you’ve paid over the previous four years (USC and PRSI don’t count).

That last row is worth flagging clearly: the €500,000 threshold isn’t a taper, it’s a hard cut-off. A property priced at €500,001 receives no HTB relief whatsoever, while one priced at €450,000 can still receive the full €30,000, provided enough tax has been paid to cover it. 

There’s no restriction on how you use the funds once received; the requirement is simply that the property and buyer meet the scheme’s conditions.

What if my tax paid is less than the maximum relief?

You can’t claim more relief than the tax you’ve actually paid, and there’s no government top-up to bridge the gap. 

For example, on a €300,000 purchase your potential relief is €30,000, but if you’ve only paid €20,000 in Income Tax and DIRT over the last four years, €20,000 is all you’ll receive. This doesn’t disqualify you from the scheme, it simply caps what you can claim.

For joint buyers, the tax paid by both applicants is combined. So if one of you paid €10,000 in tax and the other paid €20,000, your combined relief pool is €30,000, even though neither of you individually paid enough to cover the full amount alone. The individual four-year tax test only applies if you’re buying on your own.

How to apply for the Help-to-Buy scheme

Applying happens in three stages through Revenue’s online services:

1. Application stage. Log in via myAccount (PAYE) or ROS (self-assessed) to confirm your tax compliance and eligibility. You’ll receive an Application Number and a summary of your maximum potential relief.
2. Claim stage. Once you’ve signed your purchase contract, or drawn down the first part of a self-build mortgage, you can make your claim, providing property, mortgage and deposit details.
3. Verification stage. Your claim is verified by your Qualifying Contractor (for new builds) or your solicitor (for self-builds) before Revenue releases the refund.

As above, the refund itself goes to your contractor for new builds, or into your nominated Irish bank account with your mortgage provider for self-builds. It’s paid in euro only.

When does the scheme end?

The Help-to-Buy scheme originally ran to the end of 2025. Budget 2025 extended it to 31 December 2029, in recognition of how elevated house prices and building costs continue to affect first-time buyers. As long as you sign your contract, or draw down your self-build mortgage, on or before that deadline, you’ll qualify for relief, even if the property isn’t finished or handed over until afterwards.

Additional considerations

If you’re self-building, timing matters more than it might first appear. Your home needs to be completed within two years of the date your HTB payment was made, not two years from contract signing. Miss that window and Revenue can claw back the payment, giving you three months from the end of the two-year period to repay it. 

Important! If it looks unlikely your build will be finished in time, it’s worth speaking to your advisor well before that deadline arrives, since Revenue does have some flexibility where a home is nearly finished.

There’s also a five-year minimum occupation rule that applies to everyone, new build or self-build. If you sell or stop living in the property within five years of moving in, some or all of your HTB payment may need to be repaid, with the amount reducing the longer you’ve stayed.

On other schemes: HTB isn’t mutually exclusive with the First Home Scheme or Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme. Many buyers use HTB alongside one of these shared equity schemes to close the affordability gap further, though you’ll need to declare this as part of your HTB claim. Speak to a mortgage advisor about how these might work together for your situation.

Why use Help-to-Buy?

Beyond the numbers, HTB exists to take some of the financial stress out of a major life step. For many first-time buyers, the deposit is the single biggest barrier standing between renting and owning, and a lump sum refund can be the difference between qualifying for a mortgage this year or waiting several more years to save enough.

It also gives you breathing room beyond the deposit itself. If your relief covers more than your deposit shortfall, the balance can go towards the costs that tend to catch new homeowners off guard, such as removals, furnishing or those first few bills in a new place.

That matters more than it might sound: having a financial buffer left over after moving day means you’re not starting out in your new home with your emergency fund wiped out, which goes a long way toward making the whole experience feel less financially precarious.

If you’re weighing up whether Help-to-Buy fits your own plans, get in touch with our mortgage team for guidance specific to your situation, or check out our Top 10 Mortgage FAQs for more information.

This article does not constitute tax, legal or financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future. For guidance, seek professional, independent, advice.

This publication / article is for general information purposes and is not an invitation to deal or address your specific requirements.

Any expressions of opinions are subject to change without notice. The information disclosed should not be relied upon in their entirety and shall not be deemd to be, or constitute, advice. Although endeavours have been made to provide accurate and timely information of the various source material, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.