35%

of the labour cost

€1,600

maximum / person / year

€150

credit threshold / year

€5,000

labour needed for the maximum

Why the figures conflict

In spring 2026 the government proposed raising the household credit: 40% of work bought from a company, 15% of wages, and a maximum of 2,100 euros, retroactively from 1 January 2026 and temporarily for 2026–2027. The proposal was widely reported, and many sites recorded the figures as being in force.

Section 127 a of the income tax act still reads 1,600 euros, however, and section 127 b still reads 35% and 13% — the most recent amendment to those sections dates from 2024. The Tax Administration’s own page on the amount of the credit likewise lists only 2024 and 2025. This calculator follows the law in force, because the error in the other direction would cost more: an overstated promise leads to a renovation budget set 500 euros too high.

How the credit is calculated

The credit is calculated on the labour share only, VAT included. Materials, supplies and travel do not qualify, so the invoice must itemise which part is work. A 150-euro threshold is deducted once a year from the calculated credit, and the result is capped at 1,600 euros per person.

The last row is the point: past 5,000 euros the credit stops growing. Eight thousand euros of work brings the same 1,600 as five thousand. For a large renovation, spreading it over two years or across two spouses is the only way to get more.

Spouses: €3,200, but two thresholds

Each spouse can claim up to 1,600 euros, so together the maximum is 3,200. It is worth checking when splitting actually helps, though: if the credit stays below 1,600, claim it for one spouse only, because the 150-euro threshold is deducted from each of them separately. Splitting a small credit loses 300 euros instead of 150.

How you pay decides

• ·Payment must be a bank transfer — work paid in cash brings no credit at all.
• ·The company must be in the prepayment register. Check it in the YTJ service before ordering.
• ·The credit also covers work done in a home used by you, your parents or your grandparents.
• ·A holiday home qualifies, an investment property does not — the credit concerns a home in your own use.
• ·The credit comes off tax rather than income, so it requires enough tax to be payable.

That last point is easily forgotten. The household credit reduces the tax you pay directly, so if not enough tax accrues — on a small pension, say, or as a student — the credit cannot be used in full. Transferring it to a spouse helps in that situation too.

Claim it now, not in next spring’s tax return

The credit is not granted automatically; you have to claim it. You can do so in OmaVero as soon as the invoice is paid, or wait until the tax return the following spring. The difference is timing: claim during the year and request a new tax card at the same time, and the credit shows up as lower withholding in your very next payslip. Wait for the tax return, and the same money arrives as a refund more than a year later.

The claim needs the company’s name and business ID, the labour share including VAT, and the payment date. Invoices and receipts are not attached, but you must keep them for six years from the end of the tax year. The credit belongs to the year of payment, not the year the work was done — a renovation carried out in December and paid in January falls into the following tax year.

Replacing oil heating is a separate matter

For an oil-heating phase-out the credit is 60% of the work paid to a company, up to 3,500 euros. This higher credit applies in tax years 2025–2027 and is written into section 127 f of the income tax act. The maximum is reached at roughly 6,083 euros of labour.

The overall annual cap is 3,500 euros, and work other than the oil-heating phase-out may account for at most 1,600 of it. So if you replace the heating system and renovate the bathroom in the same year, the bathroom share fits into the credit only up to that 1,600.