Property Tax Administration

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Questions (36)

Dan Neville

Question:

36. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Minister for Finance his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the local property tax. [10623/14]

View answer

Written answers

I am advised by Revenue that a key aspect of the work undertaken in regard to Local Property Tax (LPT) was the development of a comprehensive Register of residential properties in the State. The Register was populated using data drawn from a range of sources including Revenue's own databases, the Local Government Management Agency database and data from various utility companies. The various data sets were cross-checked by Revenue to ensure the accuracy of the information in respect of each property being included on the Property Register.

However, given the scale of the project it was inevitable that there would be some errors and in a small number of instances properties were either duplicated to, or omitted from, the Property Register. Revenue clearly indicated this possibility in all of its communications in regard to LPT and stressed that in such circumstances the onus was on the property owners to make contact and provide the correct details.

In regard to the specific case to which the Deputy refers, the person in question did not receive any notification in respect of either 2013 or 2014 from Revenue as the details on the Property Register did not reflect the correct postal address. A member of the LPT team recently made direct contact with the person in question and assisted him in correcting his contact details, filing his 2013 Return and arranging his payment obligations in respect of both 2013 and 2014. Revenue has confirmed to me that the person s details are now correctly detailed on the Property Register and that his LPT Return filing obligations are fully in order. The person confirmed to the LPT team member that he would be paying his outstanding liabilities in the coming days by cheque. Revenue has assured me that once the payment is received the person will be fully LPT compliant.