Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2013
37. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Minister for Finance the number of house owners who applied to have their local property tax deducted from their social welfare payments but cannot avail of this option because their personal income is too low and they may not have been advised of this and now find themselves in arrears, through no fault of their own, with their local property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53490/13]
View answerI am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that liable persons for more than 15,000 residential properties opted to pay their 2013 Local Property Tax (LPT) by way of deduction at source from a Department of Social Protection payment. The Commissioners have confirmed that in the majority of cases deductions from Department of Social Protection payments have already commenced and over €1.2m has been collected by Revenue to date. I am also advised that in approximately 1,400 cases the instruction to deduct at source from Department of Social Protection payments, which is an automated process, was not successful for a variety of reasons, including because the wrong scheme was selected by the property owner.
It is estimated that a small subset of these cases would be where the deduction of LPT from the relevant payment could not be finalised as it would have reduced the property owner’s personal rate payment to below €186 per week. This amount is equivalent to the weekly rate of supplementary welfare allowance and section 92 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) precludes the Department of Social Protection from reducing a property owner’s personal rate payment to below this amount. I am further advised that, where this has arisen, Revenue has already been in contact with a number of these individuals to agree alternative payment arrangements and is in the process of contacting the remainder.
As to whether property owners were advised about the possible impact of the €186 threshold on their LPT deductions, I am advised that the LPT information guide, which was sent to all property owners in March/April 2013, outlined the various payment options available and specifically advised property owners that deduction of LPT from their Department of Social Protection payment cannot reduce their personal rate payment to less than €186 per week. Furthermore, the Frequently Asked Questions section on the Revenue website outlined the possible implications of choosing this payment option and advised owners that they should satisfy themselves that the weekly deductions of LPT from their Department of Social Protection payment would meet their 2013 LPT liability by the end of 2013. Where the scheme chosen would not allow the LPT to be paid in full by the end of the year, owners were advised to choose a different payment method, or alternatively, to consider deferring the charge, where they established that they met the qualifying conditions for deferral. I understand that this issue was also dealt with by Revenue spokespeople who took part in a large number of national and local radio interviews between March and May this year.
I am advised by the Commissioners that where a property owner discovers that deduction of LPT from their Department of Social Protection scheme is not possible on account of the €186 threshold, they should contact the LPT Branch helpline on 1890 200 255 to make alternative arrangements for paying the 2013 tax, or to confirm if they are eligible to defer the charge. In this respect, the Commissioners advise that where an owner-occupier’s only source of income is their Department of Social Protection payment, they would be eligible to defer payment of the tax. Full details on deferring payment of LPT are available on the Revenue website.
