This is the saving half of the site in one page. Every figure below is quoted word for word from the body that actually runs the scheme — Revenue, the HSE, Citizens Information, the CCPC, Transport for Ireland — with the date we read it. If something here is out of date, it is our fault, and we would rather you told us than trusted it.
1. The tax you can still claim back — four years of it
This is the biggest single pot, and the one almost nobody touches. You do not have to be sick, self-employed or organised. You need receipts and about ten minutes.
The four-year window is open right now
Revenue's rule is plain: "You must claim tax relief within the 4 years following the year in which you paid for the healthcare."
So in 2026 you can still claim for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Four separate years, four separate refunds, one sitting. On 1 January the oldest year drops off and is gone for good.
Health expenses come back at the standard rate
"Tax relief on medical and health expenses is given at the standard rate of 20%." There is no minimum spend. A GP visit counts. A prescription counts.
- Doctor and consultant fees, hospital or clinic treatment, maternity care, IVF, ambulance transport.
- Prescribed drugs and medicines, physiotherapy, chiropody, home nursing.
- Nursing home fees are the exception and are worth far more — that relief is given at your highest rate of tax, not 20%.
It does not have to be your own health expense
"You can claim tax relief on medical expenses you pay for yourself or for any other person."
If you paid for a parent's consultant, an adult child's physio or a neighbour's prescription, that is your relief to claim. It follows whoever paid, not whoever was treated.
Routine dental is out, the expensive dental is in
Cleanings, fillings, extractions and dentures get you nothing. But crowns, veneers, root canal, gum-disease treatment, bridgework, braces and the surgical removal of impacted wisdom teeth all qualify — and those are the four-figure ones.
Your dentist has to sign a Form Med 2. Ask for it at the desk when you pay. Most people never do, and without it there is no claim.
Coeliac and diabetic food counts
"You can also claim for gluten-free food if you have coeliac disease or diabetic products if you have diabetes." A letter from your doctor replaces a prescription, and "You can use receipts from supermarkets or chemists."
For a household buying gluten-free bread every week, this is the tip on this page most worth acting on.
Keep the receipts, or use the tracker
Revenue's myAccount has a receipts tracker. Use it and you can claim under Real Time Credit, which puts the money into your next payslip instead of making you wait for the year to end.
Do not use it and the rule is strict: keep the paper for six years, because Revenue can ask.
Checked against Citizens Information — Tax relief on medical expenses, read 11 September 2026.
2. School costs you should not be paying
Schoolbooks are now free at both primary and post-primary. A surprising number of families are still paying for things the State already covers, and two of the biggest are only free if you speak up.
Books, copybooks, journal, dictionary, maths set, calculator
Primary and post-primary pupils in State-funded schools get free textbooks, e-books and workbooks. At post-primary the scheme also covers "Copybooks, refill pads or hardback notebooks", school journals, dictionaries for every language studied, maths sets and a calculator.
The books are a loan. Mind them, return them, and there is nothing to pay.
That post-primary deposit is refundable — collect it
"The school may ask you for a €50 refundable deposit for post-primary schoolbooks and resources. You'll get the deposit back when you return the books at the end of the year."
It is refundable, not a fee. If your child left the school or finished sixth year and nobody handed it back, ask for it.
At primary there is no deposit at all: "You do not have to pay a deposit for the schoolbooks." If a primary school asked you for one, that is worth a polite question.
Junior and Leaving Cert fees are free on a medical card
"Students do not have to pay examination fees for Junior Cycle or Leaving Certificate if their parent or guardian has a medical card."
Nobody applies it for you. You enter the medical card details on the online fee payment form. Miss that box and you pay in full.
School transport can be free on the same card
"school transport may be free to medical card holders, if the school transport scheme is operating in your area and your child is eligible."
The scheme covers children living 3.2 km or more from their local primary school, or 4.8 km or more from their local post-primary school.
The boarding grant nobody has heard of
If your child lives too far from any free post-primary school and there is no transport, the Remote Area Boarding Grant helps pay for boarding or lodging. "The maximum grant available is €4,947 per year."
The deadline is hard and early: "Applications for children starting in September of each year should be submitted before 30 April of that year." You cannot apply online.
Checked against Citizens Information — Financial help with going to school, read 11 September 2026.
3. Fares that cap themselves, if you tap the right card
Paying cash on a bus in Dublin is one of the most expensive habits in the country, and the fare caps mean a busy day costs the same as a quiet one.
Cash is the dearest way to travel
A Leap card gives "Up to 30% savings on adult fares" against cash, and "Up to 50% savings with Young Adult or Student card."
If you are 19 to 25, or a full-time student, and you are not carrying the Young Adult or Student card, you are paying roughly double what you need to.
The 90-minute fare covers the whole journey, not one bus
In Dublin you can travel for up to 90 minutes across multiple services — bus, Luas, DART, most commuter rail — for "€2.00 Adult", "€1.00 Young Adult / Student" or "€0.65 Child".
Bus, then Luas, then a DART home is one fare, not three. Express buses are the exception and cost €2.40.
You cannot be charged past the cap
Dublin fares cap themselves automatically, daily and weekly, across any combination of Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead, Luas, DART and Zone 1 commuter rail.
"Once you reach the daily or weekly cap, no additional Travel Credit will be deducted for the rest of that period." After that, every extra trip that day is free.
- Daily cap — Adult €6.00 · Young Adult or Student €3.00 · Child €1.95
- Weekly cap, Monday to Sunday — Adult €24.00 · Young Adult or Student €12.00 · Child €7.80
Register the card, or the credit on it is not yours
This is the one that costs people real money and almost nobody knows it. "Unregistered cards cannot be replaced or refunded."
Lose an unregistered card with €40 on it and that is simply gone. Registering takes a few minutes online and makes the balance recoverable.
Checked against Transport for Ireland — TFI Leap Card, read 11 September 2026.
4. There is a ceiling on what medicine can cost you
If you do not have a medical card, the Drugs Payment Scheme puts a hard monthly limit on the family's prescription bill. Two details decide whether you actually get it.
The cap covers the whole household
"Under the Drugs Payment Scheme, you and your family only have to pay a maximum of €80 each month for approved prescribed drugs and medicines, and certain appliances."
One card covers you, your spouse or partner, and children under 18 — or under 23 if they are in full-time education. Apply online at mydps.ie. You cannot have it alongside a medical card, because the medical card is better.
Split your prescriptions and you break your own cap
"You should try to use the same pharmacy in a month to avoid paying more than the maximum €80."
Each pharmacy only sees what it dispensed, so two pharmacies in one month can each charge you separately and neither knows you have hit the ceiling.
If you already overpaid, ask for it back
"If you use 2 or more pharmacies in one month you may spend over the maximum threshold of €80. If this happens you can apply for a refund of the amount you spent above the €80 threshold."
There is a claim form, and you can check where the claim is at on drugspayment.ie.
HRT is free if you are registered
"Since 1 June 2025, if you are prescribed HRT and are registered for the Drugs Payment Scheme, you can get free HRT from a pharmacy participating in the free HRT scheme."
You need the DPS registration to get it. That alone is a reason to register even if your usual monthly spend is nowhere near the cap.
Checked against Citizens Information — Drugs Payment Scheme, read 11 September 2026.
5. Energy — the deposit, the deadline and the meter reading
Switching is the well-worn advice and it still works. These are the three parts of it that catch people out.
That security deposit is supposed to come back
Suppliers can ask for a deposit, and a lot of people forget they ever paid one. "The deposit must be returned in your final bill after your contract ends (usually after 12 months)."
"Your supplier must tell you if you are at risk of losing your deposit and what you can do to keep it." If a year has gone by and nothing came back, ring and ask.
You can walk back a switch you regret
"You can cancel the contract within 14 days if you signed up over the phone or online. This is called a 'cooling-off' period. The cooling-off period is extended to 30 days if you bought at your doorstep."
That doorstep window is the long one on purpose. If someone signed you up at your own front door, you have a month to undo it.
Check the contract before you fall in love with a price
Citizens Information's own checklist before switching starts with the trap: "Check if you are in a fixed term contract. If you are, you may be charged for switching to another supplier."
Have your MPRN and an up-to-date meter reading ready before you ring anyone, and try renegotiating with your existing supplier first — it costs one phone call.
Checked against Citizens Information — Electricity: getting connected or switching, read 11 September 2026.
6. In the shop, the law is already on your side
Most supermarket tricks only work while nobody checks. Three rules do the checking for you.
The unit price has to be on the label
"Unit prices for products sold by weight, volume or measure must also be clearly shown (for example, price for litre or kilo, metre or square mile)."
It is the small number under the big one. Read that instead and shrinkflation and fake multi-buys both fall apart on the spot, because the pack size changes and the price per kilo cannot hide it.
A "was" price has to be a real price
"Sale prices must also show the prior price. The prior price is the lowest price the goods were on sale for in the 30 days before the sale."
So an item advertised as reduced from a figure it has not actually sold at in the past month is not a sale. That is the whole trick, and it is against the rules.
Charged more than the shelf said? Say it at the till
"It is an offence for the trader to knowingly charge more than the price displayed."
And afterwards: "If you notice after that you were charged a higher price than what is displayed, bring this to the trader's attention. You can ask for a full refund or a difference in the price." Check the receipt in the car park, not next week.
A pub has to show you its prices
Every licensed premises must display two lists — everything it sells, and "a summary list of the 16 most popular drinks for sale" shown clearly inside or directly outside the door.
If prices go up after a certain time of night, that has to be on the notice too.
Checked against Citizens Information — Rules on pricing, read 11 September 2026.
7. When something you bought goes wrong
Irish consumer law is stronger than most people use. Note that Section 75, the rule you will hear quoted on British television, is UK law and does not apply here — what we have instead is at least as useful.
In the first month you can simply hand it back
"If a fault arises in the first 30 days after you buy a product or within 30 days from when it was delivered, you have the right to terminate your purchase within that time and get a full refund once you return the product."
You do not have to accept a repair, a replacement or a credit note. But you must say so inside the 30 days, so do it in writing and keep a copy.
For a year, the shop has to prove it was not faulty
This is the single most useful sentence in Irish consumer law and hardly anyone knows it. "If a problem occurs in the first year after a purchase, consumer law presumes that the fault existed from the time you received the item."
You point out the fault. It is then up to the business to prove the item was fine when you got it. After the first year that flips, and the burden is back on you.
Your rights do not end when the warranty does
"Consumer rights are strongest when you first buy the product but last up to six years in Ireland."
A shop telling you that you are out of luck because the twelve-month guarantee expired is describing its own guarantee, not your rights. A washing machine is reasonably expected to last longer than a year.
For a serious fault you can insist on a refund even after the 30 days, and "The business must refund you within 14 days of getting the goods back."
Paid by card? Ask the bank for a chargeback
If the trader will not fix it, has stopped answering, or has gone out of business, your bank may be able to pull the money back. "If you paid by credit or debit card, contact your bank or card provider immediately."
"In most cases, you have up to 90-120 days to dispute a payment. However, in certain cases longer timeframes can be facilitated." It works on debit cards as well as credit, which is exactly where Section 75 would not have helped you anyway.
Checked against CCPC — Faulty goods and products, and disputed card transactions, read 11 September 2026.
8. The free help, and why it is genuinely free
If money is tight enough that this page feels beside the point, these three exist for exactly that and none of them sells anything.
MABS, for debt and budgeting
The Money Advice and Budgeting Service is the State's free, confidential debt advice service. It will deal with creditors on your behalf. mabs.ie, or 0818 07 2000.
It is not a loan company and it is not a charity appeal. It costs nothing and it is the right first call if repayments have got away from you.
Citizens Information, for anything on this page
Every quote above comes from Citizens Information or a body it links to. There is a phone service behind it: "0818 07 4000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm)", and local centres you can walk into.
If you are unsure whether something applies to you, ring them before you assume it does not.
The CCPC, when a business will not listen
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission runs a consumer helpline and publishes letter templates you can copy. Quoting the right rule in writing settles most disputes without going further.
If the business is registered in another EU country, in Iceland, Norway or the UK, the European Consumer Centre Ireland takes it from there.
Checked against Citizens Information — Your consumer rights, read 11 September 2026.
Where our own sums come in
Everything above is quoted from the body that runs it. These few figures are ours — the arithmetic is printed so you can check it.
- €40 — an illustration, not a published figure — the point is that whatever balance is on an unregistered Leap card is unrecoverable, whether that is €4 or €40.
Common questions
How far back can I claim tax relief in Ireland?
Four years. Revenue's rule is that you must claim within the 4 years following the year you paid for the healthcare, so during 2026 you can still claim for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Each 1 January the oldest year closes permanently.
Does Section 75 work in Ireland?
No. Section 75 is a section of the UK's Consumer Credit Act 1974 and has no effect in the Republic. The equivalent route here is a chargeback through your bank, which works on debit cards as well as credit, alongside your rights under Irish and EU consumer law. The CCPC is the body to ask.
Are schoolbooks actually free now in Ireland?
Yes, at both primary and post-primary in State-funded schools, along with core classroom resources like copybooks, a journal, dictionaries, a maths set and a calculator. The books are lent to you and must be returned. A post-primary school may ask for a €50 deposit, but that is refundable when the books come back.
What happens if I go over the €80 Drugs Payment Scheme limit?
You can claim the excess back. It usually happens because prescriptions were filled at two different pharmacies in the same month, and neither could see the other's total. Use one pharmacy where you can, and if you have already overpaid, apply for a refund of the amount above the threshold.
Is there really a cap on Dublin public transport fares?
Yes, and it applies automatically when you use a Leap card across Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead, Luas, DART and Zone 1 commuter rail. Once the daily or weekly cap is reached, no more travel credit is taken for the rest of that period. The adult caps are €6.00 a day and €24.00 a week.
A shop says my guarantee has run out. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily. A guarantee is something the business offers on top of the law; it does not replace your statutory rights, which last up to six years in Ireland where the product could reasonably be expected to last that long. In the first year the business also has to prove the item was not faulty when you got it, rather than you having to prove it was.
Do I need an accountant or an adviser for any of this?
No. Everything on this page is done through Revenue's myAccount, a phone call, or a form you fill in yourself. Nobody on this site is paid by anyone and there are no affiliate links, so there is nothing here we gain from you clicking.