Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013
179. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the proportion of completed local property tax returns which corresponded with the Revenue assessment of the value of the property; the property where the completed return was lower than the Revenue assessment and the proportion where the valuation was higher; the cumulative impact on the total revenue expected from these changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27037/13]
View answer181. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the number of local property tax returns that have been received from each county as a percentage of eligible properties; if he will provide a breakdown for each county of the number of returns that were electronic and the number made by hand. [27077/13]
View answer194. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 74 of 30 May 2013, if he will provide a breakdown of the figures of the returns in each rate band; the total amount of money they have received for the number of properties in each rate band; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27583/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 179, 181 and 194 together.
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that Local Property Tax (LPT) Returns, personalized 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. Given these volumes, processing returns and work items will take some time to complete. Even if it were practicable to do the detailed analysis required to answer the Deputies questions now, until a significant proportion of this work has been completed, the analysis would not be very sound. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they will make relevant data publicly available as soon as possible.
The Budget estimate prepared by my Department for Local Property Tax projected an overall yield of €250 million in 2013 and €500 million in 2014, and I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they are confident that these estimates will be achieved. At the end of May over €121m had already been transferred by Revenue to the Exchequer, which is a very significant sum given that payment of the tax is not due until 1 July 2013. Further payments will be collected between July and December 2013 as the various phased, and other, payment options available to property owners are met. The Deputies will be aware that the Finance Local Property Tax (Amendment) Act 2013 provided that payments for 2013 from local authorities and social housing associations will not be due until on or before 1 January 2014.
