Peter Mathews
Question:190. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for Finance his plans to exempt pensioners from paying the property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14873/13]
View answerTuesday, 26 March 2013
Questions (190)
Written answers
The Government agreed with the recommendation of the "Thornhill Group" (the inter-Departmental Group, chaired by Dr Don Thornhill, which considered the structures and modalities of a property tax) that a universal liability to the Local Property Tax (LPT) should apply to all owners of residential property with a limited number of exemptions. Limiting the exemptions available allows the rate to be kept low for those liable persons who do not qualify for an exemption. There is no specific exemption from the requirement to pay LPT for pensioners under the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended), though such persons may be entitled to an exemption on other grounds or may qualify for a deferral subject to meeting the qualifying conditions. The Thornhill Group considered the provision of waivers or deferrals for households unable to pay the tax or where a payment requirement would cause hardship. As a general principle, eligibility for deferral should be based on gross income. The system of deferrals in place is targeted at cases of need, where there is an inability to pay the local property tax under specific conditions.
The property must be the sole or main residence of the liable person and his or her gross income must be below certain thresholds. The thresholds are €15,000 for a single person and €25,000 for a married couple, civil partners or cohabiting couple. Deferral in respect of half of the local property tax payable is possible, where the gross income is above the threshold but less than €25,000 in the case of a single person and €35,000 in the case of a couple. (These partial deferral limits are each €5,000 higher than those recommended by the Thornhill Group). Owner/occupiers whose sole source of income is a state pension should qualify for a deferral. Deferred Local Property Tax and interest will have to be discharged on the sale/transfer of the property.
Question No. 191 answered with Question No. 178.