Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013
170. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance if he will request Revenue to arrange for a partial refund of the local property tax (details supplied) in Dublin 11 arising from the home owner mistakenly paying the Revenue estimate amount which they now realise does not correspond to the true value of their home and they have effectively been over-charged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26928/13]
View answer171. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the reasons Revenue has not responded to a letter issued to them on 11 April and again on 30 April 2013 from a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9 in relation to the mistaken over-valuation of a property and the need to make an adjustment; and if he will ensure that the correspondence is replied to and that the necessary adjustment is made and the associated payment reduced. [26929/13]
View answer173. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the position regarding an application to defer the local property tax in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12; if he will provide confirmation that an application has been received and processed in respect of this person; the confirmation being provided, if any, for such applications, the way it is proposed to address this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26948/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 170, 171 and 173 together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that Local Property Tax (LPT) Returns, personalised letters and an LPT Guide issued earlier this year to owners of 1.69 million residential properties either by post or by way of their ROS (Revenue Online Service) inbox. I previously outlined in my response to Parliamentary Question No 74 of 30 May 2013 (26457/13) that the Revenue Commissioners had confirmed that at the end of the extended LPT filing deadline on 29 May 2013, 1,539,822 LPT Returns had been filed. I am further informed that this number is now in excess of 1.55 million.
I understand that the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners recently advised the Joint Oireachtas Commitee on Finance and Public Service Reform that over 400,000 LPT returns were filed in the final few days. She also advised that over 150,000 work items relating to the LPT register need to be processed, including for example correspondence and emails. Processing these returns and work items will take some time to complete.
Given these volumes, the Deputy will appreciate that it will not be practicable in all instances to identify and locate individual cases in the time allowed, without conducting a protracted examination of the Revenue Commissioners’ records, which would be prohibitive in terms of the resources required.
However, I am assured by Revenue that work is progressing rapidly. Direct contact is being made with taxpayers, including the cases raised by the Deputy, as items are being cleared. This has already been done in relation to the details supplied in question Reference No. (26928/13). In that case I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that a refund of LPT does not arise. A member of the LPT Branch has contacted the person in question who confirmed that he paid the correct amount of LPT but selected a higher band on the LPT Return in error. Revenue has confirmed to me that the person in question is happy that his LPT payment and filing details are correctly reflected and the matter is resolved.
