Property Tax

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 November 2020

Thursday, 26 November 2020

Questions (212)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

212. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the amount forgone and-or not collected by the Revenue Commissioners in local property tax by exempted property types in respect of properties purchased in 2013 to 2019 and to date in 2020. [39459/20]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

Local Property Tax (LPT) provides for certain properties to be exempt from the tax during a ‘valuation period’. For the current ‘valuation period’ (now extended to cover 2013 to 2021), these exemptions include properties purchased between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2013 and trading stock of builders/developers unsold at 1 May 2013 or sold in the period 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2021. Exempt properties under all exemption categories have a cost (in terms of LPT receipts foregone) of c. €15 million per year.

Also, properties built after the current valuation date (1 May 2013) remain outside the charge of LPT until the next valuation date (1 November 2021). As the owners of such properties are not required to submit LPT returns or valuations to Revenue, their number is not recorded. However, for the report of the Interdepartmental Review Group on LPT, Revenue and my Department compiled estimates of the number such of properties.

The information was based on a combination of Revenue LPT and Stamp Duty data, Central Statistics Office data, forecasts of housing construction and other information. The estimates indicate that up to 80,000 such properties may currently not be liable to LPT. I am advised that these properties could potentially yield additional receipts in the region of €25 million per year if they were brought within the charge of LPT at current rates and applying 2013 valuations in line with the treatment of properties currently subject to LPT.

Revenue publishes a comprehensive range of quarterly and annual statistics relating to LPT on its website, including information regarding exemptions from the tax, at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/local-property-tax/index.aspx .