Terence Flanagan
Question:27. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance the reason a person must pay additional costs when paying taxes by instalments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10405/14]
View answerTuesday, 4 March 2014
Questions (27)
Written answers
I am advised by Revenue that it does not charge any additional costs where a liable person opts to pay Local Property Tax (LPT) through phased payment arrangements (instalments). Phased payments by deduction at source from salary, occupational pension or certain Government payments are entirely free of charge. However, certain LPT payment options including, credit card, direct debit and cash payment through service providers are provided by either financial institutions or commercial entities and are subject to transaction fees. Revenue has no role in regard to the setting of these fees nor does it profit in any way from their payment.
For the Deputy's information, there are currently eight separate payment options available for LPT including,
- Single Debit Authority, which operates like an electronic cheque. This option is activated by completing the payslip on the LPT Return and will not be deducted from bank accounts by Revenue any earlier than 21 March 2014 in respect of the 2014 LPT liability
- Debit/Credit cards.
- Cheque/Bank Draft/Postal Order.
- Cash payments (including debit/credit cards) through Revenue approved Payment Service Providers.
- Phased cash payment arrangements (including debit/credit cards) through Revenue approved Payment Service Providers.
- Deduction at source from salary or occupational pension.
- Deduction at source from certain payments received from the Department of Social Protection and from payments received from the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine.
- Direct Debit, which is deducted on the 15th day of each month over the course of the year.
In regard to the cash payment option, the approved payment service providers are An Post TaxPay, Payzone and Omnivend. These service providers were approved because they have extensive nationwide outlets and are easily accessible right across the country. They provide liable persons with the facility to pay LPT in full or on a phased weekly/monthly basis as best suits individual circumstances. I understand that currently, An Post charges €1 per transaction; Payzone charges 75 cents per transaction for payments up to €50, €1 per transaction for payments between €50.01 and €100 and €2 per transaction for payments over €100; and Omnivend charges a fee of 4% per transaction.
In regard to the specific case to which the Deputy refers, the person in question opted to meet his LPT liabilities through one of these approved service providers and on that basis is liable to the transaction charges as outlined. I must again stress that Revenue has no role in the imposition of these charges.
Again for the Deputy's information, Revenue has confirmed to me that the 'deduction at source' options as outlined above do not incur any transaction fees or additional costs and deduct the LPT liability in phased amounts across the course of the year. If the person in question is interested in changing his preferred payment option to deduction at source, he can do so online by using his Property ID and PI number to access his details or he can contact the LPT Helpline at 1890 200255.