Róisín Shortall
Question:70. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a response to the issues raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding the local property tax. [52410/13]
View answerThursday, 5 December 2013
Questions (70)
Written answers
In accordance with the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended), liability for Local Property Tax (LPT) will arise where a person owns a residential property on the liability date, which was 1 May 2013 for 2013 and for subsequent years, 1 November in the preceding year. For the year 2014, the liability date is 1 November 2013 and the tax is payable on or before 1 January 2014. Where a liable person sells their residential property between 2 November 2013 and 31 December 2013, provided that they owned the property on 1 November 2013, they will be liable to pay LPT on that property for 2014.
These dates have been in the public domain since December 2012 when the legislation was passed and 1 November liability date has been the subject of several occasions previous Parliamentary Questions, including my reply to Question No. 110 on 27 March this year. I also informed the House in my replies to Questions Nos. 221 (49518/13) and 223 (49556/13) on 19 November 2013 that having a liability date before the year commences is preferable as there is certainty about who the liable person is for the coming year, that person has a reasonable amount of time to make the necessary provisions and they have access to the widest possible range of options for paying the tax. In particular, the liable person can put the required arrangements in place to ensure that phased payments by way of direct debit or deduction at source from employment, occupational pension or from certain Government payments would commence from January 2014 and would spread payment of the full LPT liability evenly over the course of 2014.
For a tax such as LPT to function properly, legislation must specify a liability date for the tax to have application for a particular year. Whatever date is prescribed, the question of liability when there is a change of ownership has to be managed, and I would expect that the LPT liability involved is likely to be factored in during negotiations between the parties on the sale price and the closing date of a particular contract.
As there are a number of LPT issues to be considered when buying or selling a house, I am advised that detailed guidance on LPT issues arising in the context of the sale or transfer of a residential property was prepared by the Revenue Commissioners in consultation with the Law Society and is available since last August on the Revenue website at http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/lpt/sale-transfer-property.html and on the Law Society’s website.
The liability date for 2014 of 1 November 2013 is settled, has been approved by the Oireachtas in passing the LPT legislation and I have no plans to change the law in question. Since the 2014 liability date of 1 November 2013 is provided for in the legislation, any owner selling their residential property between 2 November and 31 December 2013 cannot therefore appeal their liability for LPT on the property for 2014.