I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 154 together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that Local Property Tax (LPT) Returns, personalised letters and an LPT Guide have issued to owners of 1.66 million residential properties either by post or by way of their ROS (Revenue Online Service) inbox. The Commissioners have confirmed that in excess of 948,522 LPT Returns have been filed up to Monday 20 May 2013. Of the returns received, 657,157 were filed electronically and 291,365 were paper returns.
As the Deputy will appreciate, with returns being filed on a constant basis, the Commissioners' focus is on processing the returns, dealing with correspondence, telephone calls and payment processing. It would not be practical or particularly useful for the Revenue Commissioners to carry out detailed analysis on the filing of returns by single and multiple property owners or on the number of returns received where the owner’s self-assessment of their LPT liability was less than the Estimate quoted by Revenue, until after the online filing deadline of 28 May 2013 has passed. Similarly, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the number of LPT returns filed on a regional or administrative basis until after 28 May.
With regard to the Deputy’s request for the total number of households broken down by local authority area targeted by the Local Government Management Authority for registration for the LPT, I would like to clarify that the administration of the tax is the sole responsibility of the Revenue Commissioners.
