Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2013
262. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he is considering extending the local property tax deadline beyond the 7 May 2013 for written submissions and the 28 May 2013 for electronic submissions for persons who receive their local property tax return form late from the revenue. [16414/13]
View answerThe Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) sets out how the tax is to be administered and provides that a liability for Local Property Tax (LPT) will arise where a person owns a residential property on the liability date which will be 1 May 2013 for the year 2013.
A key aspect of the work undertaken by Revenue was the development of a comprehensive Register of residential properties in the State. This Register is being used to issue correspondence to property owners and work is still in progress to ensure, as far as possible, that all property owners will be contacted. On 11 March this year, Revenue commenced the issue of LPT Returns to owners of 1.66 million properties. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that by 10 April, LPT Returns had issued for about 96% of residential properties on the Register.
I am further advised by the Commissioners that LPT is a self-assessed tax and therefore liable persons are obliged to calculate the tax due based on their assessment of the market value of their property, file their Return by the relevant deadline and pay the tax due. This obligation applies to all owners whether or not they receive a Return from Revenue. Where an owner is not on Revenue’s Register a Return will not issue. However, they are still obliged to complete and file a Return by the relevant deadline (7 May for paper filers and 28 May for electronic filers).
As part of its media campaign Revenue will advise property owners this week that, if they have not yet received a Return from Revenue, they should contact Revenue’s LPT Helpline on 1890 200 255 or access the online system on Revenue’s website to file their LPT Return. I have been advised by the Commissioners that even where a property owner has not received a Property ID and PIN code from Revenue, they will still be able to file their Return online.
As the Deputy is aware, LPT is payable on 1 July, and Revenue has put in place a wide range of payment options to enable liable persons to select the one that best suits their circumstances, including payment by instalments in various ways. The logistics of ensuring that paper LPT returns are processed in time to enable the payment arrangements selected by the liable person to be put in place in time for the payment date are significant, and accordingly it is necessary to maintain the filing dates of 7 May for paper filers. The filing date of 28 May for online filers is the defacto extension.
The LPT paper return is very short – just two pages. The on-line system is easier than paper, with built in prompts and calculators. In either case it will be possible for liable persons to quickly complete and submit a return.
I can confirm that I have no plans to extend the deadline for submitting Local Property Tax returns beyond the dates mentioned.
