Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
177. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide, in tabular form, on a county basis the total number of households that have sought deferrals on the local property tax; the number that have been successful; the number of appeals; the number of successful appeals; the total value of the deferrals.. [29322/14]
View answerI am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that data on the number of Local Property Tax (LPT) deferrals claimed by households are not available on a county basis. LPT statistics published by the Commissioners on 16 April 2014 on their website at: Local Property Tax Statistics April 2014 (PDF 192KB) show that deferrals were claimed in respect of about 19,100 properties based on the returns processed up to that date. This equates to about 1.2% of properties returned.
The four categories of deferral of LPT available consist of deferral based on: (i) Income Threshold, (ii) Personal Representative of a Deceased Person, (iii) Personal Insolvency and (iv) Significant Financial Loss. The Commissioners have confirmed that while the first three deferral categories are claimed on a self-assessment basis, applications for deferral based on Significant Financial Loss are reviewed by Revenue and a decision is made on whether the application meets the necessary requirements as set out in the "Guidelines for Deferral or Part Deferral of Payment of LPT" which are published on the Revenue website at http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/lpt/guidelines-deferral-lpt.pdfgrant
In relation to applications for deferral based on Significant Financial Loss, I am advised by the Commissioners that they have received about 2,800 applications to date. Of these applications, LPT has been paid in approximately 300 cases and so deferral is no longer being sought. A further 400 cases are entitled to deferral under one of the other categories for deferral, principally the Income Threshold deferral. Some 900 applications have not been granted as they do not meet the qualifying criteria and the relevant applicants have been notified. The remaining applications are currently being reviewed by Revenue and the Commissioners have already been in correspondence with some applicants seeking additional information. I am also advised that to date no appeals have been received in connection with LPT deferrals.
