The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides the legislative basis for the household charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge, unless entitled to claim a waiver or otherwise exempt.
The household charge is on a self-assessment basis and it is a matter for an owner of a residential property on the liability date to determine if he or she has a liability and, if so, to declare that liability and pay the household charge.
The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) is administering the household charge system on a shared service/agency basis for all county and city councils. I understand, from data provided by the LGMA, that as of 8 June 2012, a total of 932,575 property declarations had been processed by the household charge bureau. 915,408 registered for payment of the charge, equating to some €92m. 17,167 residential properties have been registered for a waiver from payment of the charge.
In addition, an estimated 17,700 postal declarations have been received in the household charge bureau, which have yet to be processed due to outstanding queries; these equate to a further €1.77m. This gives a total number of 950,275 declarations made equating to over €93.5m.
The information requested in respect of the registration of multiple properties is set out in the table below:
|
Number
|
Number of properties registered to an account with two or more properties
|
332,900
|
Number of accounts with two or more properties registered
|
106,332
|