Mature Student - No Grant or aid

Hi there,

Hope someone might be able to advise on this. My brother, who will be 30 this year has just gone back to fulltime education doing a degree in a university. Up to this he had been working various sales jobs etc. He is married and his wife is a solicitor, they have no children as yet. Because his wife is a solicitor and is on a good income, apparently he is not entitled to any grant.

She is working in Wexford where they are currently renting a house for €700.00 per month. They also have a large loan which is costing them 1000 a month, there is no prospect of clearing this in the immediate future as it is to do with a family issue. He is in college in Limerick because that is the course he wanted. When not commuting up and down, he stays with our parents in Tipperary.

I have advised him to submit a form to revenue to see if he is entitled to any tax back. Other than this, can anyone tell me if he would be entitled to anything else?

Many thanks

He cannot claim repayment of tax during unemployment, as he's not available for work if he's a full-time student. He would only be entitled (retrospectively) to tax relief on fees paid — and if it's his first enrolment for an undergraduate degree I assume he's not paying any?

If his spouse's income disqualifies him from being eligible for a grant, then — regardless of whatever debt repayments or other liabilities he/they may have — I doubt there's any other financial support available to him, unless he 'wins' some sort of scholarship monies on the basis of exam results (and those tend to be for fairly small amounts).

Sorry I can't give you/him better news, maybe someone will correct me on the above? If it's any consolation, having a degree will (hopefully) yield dividends in terms of higher future earnings.

DrMoriarty said:

He cannot claim repayment of tax during unemployment, as he's not available for work if he's a full-time student. He would only be entitled (retrospectively) to tax relief on fees paid — and if it's his first enrolment for an undergraduate degree I assume he's not paying any?

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If he stops working mid year to become a full time student then surely he can claim tax back - e.g. via Form P50 or at least at year end via a P21 balancing statement request?

Form P50 - First Claim for Repayment During Unemployment

I'm happy to stand (well, sit) corrected!

Obviously the married taxation option chosen by the couple in question will be relevant but there may well still be a tax refund to be had.

If his wife is paying for the fees (and she must be as she is the only earner), she is entitled to claim tax relief for the fees according to:
[broken link removed]

Many thanks for all your replies. It was the FormP50 I was telling him to complete and send in. I have just spoken to him and they are not assessed on tax as a married couple so I told him to change that straight away. Nor are they claiming rent relief on any properties they have been renting in the past number of years. I have told him to claim this immediately for both of them retrospectively. Can she get his rent relief allowance now and also his health insurance allowance do you know?

funnymunny said:

Can she get his rent relief allowance now and also his health insurance allowance do you know?

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Claims for outstanding tax relief/credits (e.g. rent relief, health insurance premium relief, married taxation etc.) can be backdated by up to 4 tax years (i.e. back as far as 2003 right now). They may need to send in P60s for each year, explain what needs to be claimed and ask for a new P21 balancing statement to be processed for the relevant year(s). It may be possible to do some or all of this on [broken link removed].

funnymunny said:

My brother, who will be 30 this year has just gone back to fulltime education doing a degree in a university. Up to this he had been working various sales jobs etc. He is married and his wife is a solicitor, they have no children as yet. Because his wife is a solicitor and is on a good income, apparently he is not entitled to any grant.

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If it his first time doing a Degree course and he is an EU citizen who has been working in the EU for 3 of the last 5 years, he is entitled to the 'State Grant' - ie free tuition fees. His age doesn't come into it.

Thanks again everyone for all the advice, which has now been passed on. I have downloaded all the various claim forms for him and told him to get on to revenue straight away to change their tax relief status. He has strict instructions to register with ros so that he can do as much of it as possible online.

I gather he got the state grant (he never mentioned this, I thought things were very bad altogether, not as bad as they seem it would appear!). I think with everything, they should be getting a considerable amount back from revenue and they should have a good bit more disposable income when she has all the tax reliefs credited to her. I can do no more at this stage, my good deed done for the day!