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Property Tax Collection

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 May 2014

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Questions (43, 44, 45)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

43. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the reason the Revenue Commissioners are forcing taxpayers who have been erroneously billed for an outstanding household charge to prove they paid the household charge by writing to ask for a receipt of the payment instead of the Revenue Commissioners taking steps to collect this information themselves. [20615/14]

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Róisín Shortall

Question:

44. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the reason the Revenue Commissioners cannot match individual property addresses with the payees of the household charge; if his Department has contacted the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding this lapse in oversight; if an investigation is under way by that office; and the disciplinary action, if any, for the person or persons responsible for this error. [20616/14]

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Róisín Shortall

Question:

45. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the procedures in place to make refunds to persons who have been wrongly billed for the household charge when they have already paid it but who nonetheless pay the erroneous bill on foot of receiving a threatening letter from the Revenue Commissioners. [20617/14]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 to 45, inclusive, together.

As I have previously informed the House on a number of occasions, most recently in my reply to Questions Nos. 168 and 169 on 6 May, Revenue received the Household Charge register from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and this data was used to develop the Local Property Tax (LPT) Register. Revenue confirmed that as a result of a comprehensive data matching exercise they have matched 1.27 million properties, for which the Household Charge (HHC) was paid, to the LPT register.  As the Deputy is aware, from Revenue published statistics, LPT returns were made in respect of 1.69 million properties (other than Local Authority/Social Housing).  It is absolutely essential from a fairness perspective to the vast majority of house owners who have paid the HHC and LPT that Revenue follows through on those who have not.

In this context Revenue has identified a database of properties for which the Household Charge (HHC) is still outstanding but has stated at all times that the database is not 100% accurate for a number of reasons. The two main reasons are:

- The LGMA Register captured the name of the person who paid the HHC rather than the owner of the property, therefore, for example, where a son or daughter paid the HHC on behalf of a parent and particularly where the address of the property was a 'non-unique' rural address, Revenue may not have been able to match the HHC payment to the right property.

- The legislative basis for both the HHC and LPT are different. Some properties that are liable for LPT were exempt from the HHC and, unlike LPT, property owners were not actually required to make a claim for exemption from HHC.  For that reason, Revenue could not identify every property that was exempt from HHC through the cross-referencing process.

In addition there are some examples where the LGMA register did not fully record situations where the HHC was paid to a Local Authority directly.  In all their communications with property owners during the current compliance campaign, the Revenue Commissioners have highlighted that these inconsistencies exist and have outlined the action that owners need to take if the HHC is not due.

Revenue has provided a new online service to facilitate property owners to make payment, or to indicate that they have already paid or are exempt. Any person who has paid or is exempt from the HHC and have received a reminder letter should contact Revenue through the online LPT service at www.revenue.ie or by calling the LPT Helpline and their HHC record will be updated once contact is made online or through the Helpline service.  The LPT Helpline service at 1890200255 has been open on an extended basis, to facilitate HHC queries, from 8am to 8pm since Tuesday 22 April.

For the Deputy's information, on 18 February Revenue announced a six-week period to enable those who had not paid the HHC to pay or arrange payment of the €200 charge to prevent any further interest and penalties. It carried out a significant media campaign advising people that they could check if they were on the arrears database by going online at www.revenue.ie. In the current phase of the campaign Revenue is writing to those property owners on the arrears database. This letter does four things:

- tells the property owner that per Revenue's records the property is on the arrears database,

- advises property owners  who had paid the HHC or whose property was not liable for the HHC to contact Revenue to correct the database,

- advises those who are liable to pay the charge to prevent additional interest accruing, and

- advises those who do not, of the next steps that Revenue will take to collect the charge.

In no sense could this approach amount to issuing threatening letters. The letters are a necessary step in ensuring compliance with the Household Charge.  Revenue has matched the vast majority of those who have paid the HHC. However, any data matching exercise of this type will not succeed in 100% matching and this is why Revenue is writing to those on the database to enable them tell Revenue that they have paid the HHC.

In relation to the Deputy's question regarding refunds of HHC, any refund claims relating to HHC arrears paid to Revenue on or after 1st July 2013 will be repaid in accordance with Section 26 of the 2012 Finance (Local Property Tax) Act (as amended). A refund will be issued where a claim is submitted to Revenue and is approved for repayment or where an overpayment is identified by Revenue.

Regarding the Deputy's reference to my Department contacting the Comptroller and Auditor General, as the Deputy will have seen from the foregoing there was no question of a lapse in oversight. There are perfectly valid reasons why Revenue has been unable to fully identify those who have paid the HHC or are exempt, or entitled to a waiver, from the charge and Revenue has stated this at all times in relation to LPT and the HHC arrears. I am very satisfied that Revenue has done an excellent job in relation to all aspects of LPT, including securing a 94% compliance rate in relation to  2013 LPT.  I have no doubt that the C&AG will, in the course of its annual review of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, examine various aspects of the introduction of LPT and Revenue will, as they always do, co-operate fully with the C&AG and will seek to constantly improve its systems and processes in light of live operational experience.

I am satisfied that Revenue has committed significant resources to compile as accurately as possible details of HHC non-compliant property owners. They have sought to fully explain why a letter may, despite their best efforts, have issued to a compliant property owner. Considering the number of property owners receiving correspondence in connection with the current compliance campaign, the level of error being reported by property owners to the LPT Branch, other than those explained by me earlier, is a very small proportion of the overall numbers.

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