Household Charge : A New Irish Property Tax
March 16, 2012
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Posted by Money Guide
The Household Charge - came into force in Ireland on January 1st 2012. Most owners of residential property in Ireland are liable for the household charge on each residential property they owned as at 1st January 2012. Home owners who live outside Ireland are also expected to register for and and pay the charge. The 2012 Household Charge amount is €100
Under the legislation- owners of residential properties are required to make a declaration of liability and to pay the household charge by 31 March 2012
No bills or invoices for the household charge will be sent out – the charge will be on a self declaration basis.
The definition of a residential property includes – houses, maisonettes, flats, apartments and , bedsits. So – the owner of a building split into 5 bedsits will be liable for five lots of Household Charge.
A residential building is liable if it is occupied, or suitable for occupation.
Mobile homes are not classed as residential property and are not liable.
Tenants do not have to register for the Household Charge.
A property which is let to more than one tenant with exclusive use of a bedroom for each person and joint use of common areas will only be liable for one Household Charge
Registration and payment of the Household Charge can be carried out online on the HouseholdCharge.ie website. Payment by Mastercard, Visa or Laser accepted .
The new charges can be paid as a one off payment or by 4 direct debit installments (March , May, July and Sept). Direct Debits must be done before March 1st.
More about the Household Charge here
Home Owners can also print off a registration form on the Householdcharge website and send it by post with payment by cheque to Household Charge, PO Box 12168, Dublin 1
Registration forms should also be available from City / County Councils; Libraries; Citizens Advice Centres or by calling LoCall 1890 357 357. From March 14th- forms are also available in Post Offices
You can pay the Household Charge by cash at your local Council Office but only before March 31st. There is no additional fee fee for over the counter payments.
The liability date for 2012 is January 1st - and households will have three months to pay before Late payment penalties apply as follows :
Payments made within 3 and 6 months of January 2012 – a 10% penalty.
Payments made between 6 and 12 months late – a 20% penalty.
Payments more than 12 months late – a 30% penalty plus 1% interest per month
So – if someone is 12 months late paying the €100 household charge – they will owe €130 plus another €12 interest – a total of €142.
If charges remain unpaid a charge will remain attached to the property.
The new Household Charge will apply to properties on which NPPR is also being paid. More about NPPR here
The following exemptions from the Household Charge apply:
The following buildings are not defined as residential property and will not be liable for the charge : Buildings that are …
• Part of the trading stock of a business and from which no income has been derived since the building’s construction, and has never been used as a dwelling.
• vested in certain public authorities (including property where households are purchasing their homes under the Shared Ownership Scheme and where the local authority still retains an ownership stake)
• owned by voluntary housing bodies;
• wholly used as dwellings and liable for commercial rates
An owner of a residential property is exempt from the household charge if , on the liability date, the residential property is:
• Comprised in a discretionary trust;
• Owned by an approved charity;
• Vacated by the owner by reason of long term mental or physical infirmity. (long term is more than 12 months)
Waivers
The following households will have the charge waived :
1. Those in receipt of mortgage interest supplement - (about 18,000 households)
2. Those in certain unfinished housing estates (Estimated to be less than 1300 estates) : – which will be on a list prescribed by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. (See List of Unfinished Estates Here).
People claiming a waiver still need to register for the household charge and claim the waiver.
More about Household Charge Exemptions Here
Co-owners of propertyare jointly and severally liable for the household charge, and payment of the charge by any one co-owner shall discharge the liability for all the co-owners. Only one of the owners needs to register.
Selling Your House : A vendor of a residential property must pay any household charge, late payment fee and late payment interest due on the property and give a certificate of discharge, exemption or waiver in respect of each liability date during the vendor’s ownership to a purchaser on or before the sale or transfer can be completed.
The Household Charge is just an interim measure to be put in place until a full property tax system is worked out.
The Household Charge money is supposed to be used by local authorities to help fund local services such as fire and emergency services, libraries, street cleaning, lighting, planting etc. Up until now the Exchequer has contributed to the funding of these services – but now some of the funding will be collected through the introduction of this household charge instead.
Take a look at our Top Tips For Saving Money in 2012 – If you follow some of these you could easily save enough to cover your Household Charge and more.
Categories: Budget 2012, Household Charge, Household Tax, Property Tax
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Tags: household tax, Householdcharge.ie
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Leave a reply
Is this true?
“This household charge is a Statute, otherwise known as an Act of Government, and only carries the force of law upon you if you consent to it which means that you are legally obliged to pay IF you consent or, in other words, go on to householdcharge.ie and register. Your silence and inaction will also give the appearance of no consent. If you do not consent, a Statute cannot affect you in any way whatsoever.”
Rick – as we have pointed out before – this rubbish about needing to consent to a law is completely false. Many laws in Ireland are Statutes – and they apply to all citizens of the state.
“Rick – as we have pointed out before – this rubbish about needing to consent to a law is completely false. Many laws in Ireland are Statutes – and they apply to all citizens of the state.”
Please point out to us again the reasons you have for stating that Rick’s quote is ‘rubbish’.
The long-gone Land Tax was defeated by using this point (amongst others). What has changed in Irish law since then? Those ‘who consented’ and paid the Land Tax never got a penny back.
We look forward to your considered response.
Nigel – similar arguments have been used in the UK about Council Tax. (Where there is a 97% collection rate) . Can you tell me one case in the UK where someone has been let off paying the Council Tax because they argued it was a statute and they didn’t consent to it.
I don’t think you will find one.
If Rick’s statement is true – then why do the Campaign Against The Household and Water Tax say it is not true ?
Thanks for your response – but we are concerned here with Irish Acts of Government and Statute and the force in Irish law.
For you to insist that this particular Statute makes it illegal not to pay, then something must have changed in Irish law.
What has changed – What is it?
Should you not know then please say so and answers can be pursued elsewhere.
Many thanks
Nigel – it might be easier for you to explain why the Household Charge doesn’t have to be paid?
Regards
Quote: No bills or invoices for the household charge will be sent out – the charge will be on a self declaration basis.
Sure that can’t be legally right? Every other EU citizen gets a bill for household charges.
I do also get bill for town council rates and water charges.
If this is the case, how can it be demonstrated that someone is aware of their liability?
surely this is double taxation if already paying NPPR on properties other than family home???
Is this a Tax and therefore not tax deductable. Or is this another rates and therefore double taxation as there is an NPPR that does the same?
CAN PAY WONT PAY
This consenting to a Statute is nonsense.
You elect the Lawmakers- they pass statutes, they are representatives of the people and pass and accept the rule of law with the implied consent of the people. You do not then need express consent of everyone to obey every law.
You have already consented to it by voting, even if you didn’t vote.
This household charge referes to anybody who owns a property. In other words the state is now tragetting all those and only those who decided to get up of their asses and buy homes to live in. We done the state a favour by not applying for local authority housing, yet we are now forcefully being made to pay for all the services those in local authority housing will get for nothing.In order to force people to pay the charge the state ( and we are supposed to be part of it)uses coercion to force people to pay this charge.If the government wants to bring in a property tax then make it apply to everybody including those who are in local authority housing accommodation. It would appear that our political leaders seem to think that people who hold mortgages are the same people who have money in great amounts. A family with a mortgage of €1400 each month are far away from a family in local authority house accommodationpaying €15-€45 for the privlidge of living in the house. In addition to low rent the same tenants get their bins collected free, will have no water charges, get medical cards and free bus travel and hold two fingers up to the police when they abuse others because nothing can be done to them as they are on social welfare. And we are now being forced to pay for the upkeep of local authority estates. There are genuine and law abiding people living in local authority housing and I would be quite sure that the same people are ashamed of those who live in their estates and treat their estates as if they were temporary housing camps.The same people would be only to willing to pay for the upkeep of their estates if only their local authority took responsibility for what goes on within those estates and evicted those who do not play by the rules.This household charge did not appear overnight, it was planned and executed over many years as local authorities handed over bin collection services to private collectors in anticipation of the introduction of this charge. What we now have is local authorities using their muscle to increase these charges as the years move along. Private colectors and suppliers will hold households to ransom by refusing to supply water services or collect rubbish if increasing charges are not paid. Politicians are now traitors of the Irish people. They have sold our counry out to the higherst bidders and have left us with nothing to call our own. And we must never forget about the Fianna Fail gang who got us into this mess in the first place. We must never forgive those who sold our country out and left our children with nothing else but to emigrate from this country.The so-called profesional people such as doctors, solicitors, judges and the rest of those we elected to take care of the interests of the Irish people sold the same people out in favour of their own financial security. Politicians who took big pensions when the heat got to much for them and then went into a self-imposed hiding so as not to draw attention to the many blunders they made on bahalf of the Irish people.
Its time to get off the seat and make real protest.
Walking the streets on a given day is not the answer, we tried it before and nothing came of those protests.
Its now time to place a three to four person picket on the homes of every politician in Dail Eireann. Its time to hand them the same treatment they dish out to the people of this country. Its time to hound them at every oportunity and its time to call a stop to this madness.
Politicians have had it too easy for too long from the Irish people. They used and abused their passive nature to turn this country into a banana republic. Bertie ran when the heat got too much for him , yet Bertie is paid a pension that would feed a number of families, a pension he earned by bringing the country to its knees. Thes are are our real patriots, our republic patriots who love ireland but f or the wrong reasons.
Every person in every town and city throughout the country must look to where their political represetative holds his or her clinic and where they reside and those picket those places. Leaflets and posters must be see on every pole in every street throughout the country. Coversation mustbe heard from the lips of every person who these charges are now being directed.And those politicians and activists who oppose these charges must step up to the mark and be heard at every opportunity.
We are now at war with our own government. It is now time for the people to organise and get ready for the final push.
How much more must we take? When this household charge is full implemented what will be the next charge and the next charge. When will it stop? Enda and Eamon gave themselves a €50,000 and €12,000 increase without a single word of objection in the Dail chamber,yet Enda and Eamon want us to pay something we do not have to give…..more cash.
The time for change is now.