Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 December 2012
54. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if persons acting in the capacity of executors of wills will be included in the list of persons allowed to defer payment of the property tax, save where the executor of the will, or the spouse or partner are the sole or joint beneficiary of the property concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57511/12]
View answerUnder section 11 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill, the personal representative of the estate of a person who was a liable person for Local Property Tax will be the liable person in relation to a relevant residential property. The reason for making a personal representative a liable person is to prevent the avoidance of the payment of local property tax by means of unnecessarily delaying the distribution of the estate and the transfer of a property to the person who would become the liable person in respect of the property. This might happen, for example, where the person who inherits the property is already living in the property and there are no other beneficiaries involved. The tax will be part of the expenses of the estate, along with other regular expenses, including other taxes, where applicable.
However, I appreciate that it might not always be possible for the personal representatives to fund the payment of local property tax, whether the tax was owed by the deceased person or by the personal representatives in respect of the period following death. Addressing this difficulty is not straightforward given the variety of complex circumstances that can pertain to the administration of an estate. As I indicated on Committee Stage of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill in the Dáil on 18 December last, I intend re-visit the provisions regarding executors, in the context of Finance Bill
