Property Tax Assessments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 December 2016

Wednesday, 14 December 2016

Questions (92)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

92. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons that have had their local property tax liability adjusted downwards, arising from an initial over-valuation of the property in each of the years since the inception of the tax; and the number of persons who have had their local property tax liability adjusted upwards, arising from an initial under valuation of the property in each of the years since the inception of the tax. [40435/16]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I am advised by Revenue that the majority of over-valuations of Local Property Tax (LPT) to date arose on foot of property owners paying the estimated amount rather than calculating the correct liability in accordance with the market value of the property on 1 May 2013.

Where over-valuations resulted in over-payments being made, Revenue either refunded the excess amounts or offset it to other tax liabilities once the LPT Return was filed and the correct valuation declared. The cumulative number of downward adjustments to valuations for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 (year to date) was almost 30,000. It is not possible to sub-divide this number between the various years due to the format in which the information is stored.

Under-valuations of LPT are normally identified during Revenue compliance checks or during the conveyancing element of property sales. The number of under-valuations identified for the years 2013/2014, 2015 and 2016 (year to date) were 7,300, 2,900 and 883 respectively.