Money Guide Ireland

The latest figures on the Property Tax from Revenue is that 845,427 LPT returns had been received by May 16th. This is after the deadline for paper returns and  just under 2 weeks  before the deadline for online returns to be made.

The exact figure for the  total number of liable properties is not known. A figure of 1.9 million was mentioned by Minister Hogan – but  Revenue say they only  issued forms to 1.6 million properties. Several thousand people have not been sent forms or letters because they were sent emails instead – to register online. Revenue have admitted that thousands of home owners will not have received any form or email – because they just can’t match up some properties to potential owners.

If we go with the higher figure  of 1.9 million properties – then that means just under 45% of all LPT1 returns had been filed by May 16th.

Revenue say that any home owners will not have received a form or email -  are still expected to fill in an LPT1 form online .

The Property Tax legislation mentions  a financial penalty for not completing an LPT1 form.  It appears that this penalty will not be automatic – Revenue say they “will follow up with you if you do not submit your LPT Return form”
Revenue also say that… “Penalties will not be imposed automatically and will be preceded by engagement with the taxpayer. If you don’t send your completed return to Revenue, the penalty is the amount of tax due, subject to a maximum of €3,000″

So – if  your property tax is estimated at  €157 and you don’t return the form – you will then owe double that amount (ie. €314).

More about Property Tax Penalties

All about the Property Tax

The recent publicity surrounding the potential credit card fraud at the Local Property Tax call centre has prompted us to look into how common this type of fraud is.

We sometimes hear about IT systems being hacked and credit card details being stolen – but how safe are  your credit card  details when paying over the phone?

In the UK  , CIFAS  members ( Fraud Prevention Service) ,  reported 178 cases of staff fraud in the first six months of 2011. They also reported that the theft of customer data from a company for personal use rose by 18% in 2012 .
The data – such as credit/debit card details  frequently gets passed to criminal sources who can then make use of this data for their own fraudulent purposes such as emptying a customer’s account of money.

Call Centres can take a number of measures to try and reduce the risk of staff fraudulently using the credit card details of their callers. Some employers make  employees prove they are not in debt (less temptation to steal) .  Other measures include setting  up a “clean room” where items such as mobile phones, paper and pens are banned so details cannot be recorded by staff .

In  the recent case with the Property Tax -  it was a staff member who was not authorised to take payments that appears to have kept customer card details.
Revenue did put out a statement to say that in their  payment processing team – “special arrangements were put in place in line with best practice in the payment processing sector. These involved the setting up of a filing team who are located in a ‘clean’ secure environment with additional monitoring features, who do not have access to mobile phones or any other facility to record personal or payment details.”

Some businesses make use of technology  to take the customer account details secretly over the phone using the keypad – thus removing  the temptation from the agents.

It’s worth remembering that stolen card details can come from numerous sources – with ATM and point of sale “skimming”, website hacking and mail interception being the main ones .  Call centre related scams probably make up only a tiny slice of the growing card fraud pie.

A member of staff working for the private compay Abtran  who operate the Property Tax helpline  – has been suspended because of possible theft of credit card details. The member of staff was not working in the section that dealt with payments – but had asked for credit card details from some callers.

Revenue have confirmed  that :   “details in relation to 11 credit cards were improperly obtained by an unauthorised employee.” They also said that “no cardholder has suffered any loss“.

Revenue is contacting the customers involved – where they have contact details.

Revenue have said that  the normal  procedure when paying the LPT by card over the phone would be to  select the “on-line payment” option from the phoneline menu. This would transfer the customer to the special section dealing with payments.

If you didn’t choose the  payment option you should have been  transferred from a first agent to a second agent before giving payment details.

Normal payment procedures would also involve the customer being  asked to confirm that all their details were correct?

Revenue also say that normally  – acknowledgement of  LPT payment would be sent by Revenue within 2 weeks of filing.

Finally – Revenue say that if anyone is concerned about any LPT payment details they have given over the phone they can check their LPT account  on www.revenue.ie or they may call  this dedicated Revenue number 1890-22-63-36

The Local Property Tax  or LPT letters have all been sent out now  and they were due to be returned by May 7th .  (Online returns can be made up to May 28th) .

Revenue are saying that paper forms will no longer be accepted – but we don’t think they will be sending  forms back because they are late.  You can file online at www.revenue.ie or over the phone by ringing 1890 200 255. You will need to know what valuation band your property belongs to. A list of all the property tax valuation bands and the property tax rates  for 2013 and 2014  is shown below.

The Property Tax is to be charged on all Residential property – which is defined as  any building or structure (or part of a building) which is used as, or is suitable for use as, a dwelling and includes grounds of up to one acre.

 How and When  to Pay The Property Tax

The  Local Property Tax or LPT is  a self assessment system. Each home owner will  be expected to assess the value of their home – which will involve choosing a “valuation band” . See more about Property Tax Valuations here
Details of the Property Tax Form LPT1 Here

Find out about  the Property Tax Map of Ireland here

How Much Property Tax Will You Have to Pay ?

On a house Valued at €1.5 Million – the Property Tax will be €1800 plus 0.25% of 500,00 (€1250) giving a total of €3050 (€1525 in 2013)

House Valued at 2 Million  the Property Tax will be €4300 a year (€2150 in 2013)

In 2013 – the amount due will be half the full amount  because liability doesn’t start until July 2013.

It is estimated that about €500 million a year could be raised by a property tax in Ireland with the rates shown above  ( if everyone pays).

More Property Tax Information Here  with details of  exemptions , penalties , deferrals and waivers.  How to Pay The Property Tax

The idea of a Property Tax  was first mentioned in the IMF/ECB agreed Four Year Plan -  back in November 2010 – where Fianna Fail committed to a ” site value tax” to be introduced in 2012 – with a minimum charge of €100 per property.

It could have been worse :  – there was a report about Property Tax by the ESRI in 2010 – which recommended even higher levels of tax (o.4%).

The IMF suggested a rate of 0.5% – which if implemented would mean a property tax of €1125 a year for a house valued at €225,000.

Latest Property Tax Information Here