Updated April 14th : Almost every home owner in Ireland should have received their Local Property Tax Return by now – but there are probably still some to be sent.
Many homeowners are worried about, or don’t fully understand the process for calculating how much property tax they should pay.
The new Local Property Tax is based on the market value of each dwelling on May 1st 2013 . See the Valuation Bands and Amounts here.
Who is going to decide on the property value ?
Property Owners are responsible for declaring which valuation band their home falls into as at May 1st 2013.
The Revenue Commissioners Property Tax Form (LPT1) is accompanied by a letter giving an Estimate of the property tax due for 2013 . This revenue estimate is based on average values in the area – it is not based on an individual valuation. It could be lower or higher than the amount you need to pay.
If you don’t return the form – the estimate is the amount you will be liable to pay – but you need to return the form and enter the valuation band that you think your house belongs to. The estimate is not a bill or a demand.
Revenue have provided an online mapping tool for to help owners value a property – but they will not provide a valuation for each house in the country. (That would be impossible to do with any accuracy).
See more here about the Revenue Valuation Map Website
You can also look at this article that shows Irish house price increases going back to 1980 – which might be useful in trying to estimate the current value of your house
Revenue don’t have any clue how big your house is or how many bedrooms it has . They won’t know if it is detached , terraced or semi detached or how big the garden is or if you have gold plated taps. All they can try to estimate is the average price of houses in your area – so that will be the basis of any estimate of the property tax due. The estimate could be way off the real value.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said in the Dail that this Revenue Estimate of LPT “is not a valuation of the property nor should it be regarded as an accurate calculation of the amount of LPT that they should pay”.
The estimate is being provided so that if a property owner fails to submit their LPT return Revenue will have an amount of tax that they can then enforce collection of .
Property owners are still obliged to provide a valuation of their property – and when they do , the Revenue Estimate of LPT will no longer be relevant.
Minister Noonan also said that the “Revenue valuation guidance is intended to assist property owners, but each owner will need to consider the specifics of his or her property, the area and any other local factors that influence the value when making his or her valuation assessment.”
The valuation date is set at May 1st 2013 . The value is to include garages , out houses and gardens / land of upto 1 acre. (Any land over 1 acre that goes with the property is not to be used for valuation.) The valuation at May 2013 will hold for three years until there is a revaluation in November 2016 – regardless of any improvements to the house or any problems that arise.
What Happens if I Undervalue my House ?
Some homes can have a reduced valuation for property tax purposes where it as been adapted for occupation by a disabled person . This will only apply where the adaptation was grant-aided by a local authority.
The reduction in valuation is limited to the maximum grant payable (currently €30,000) – but if the adaptation cost less than €30,000 – then this will be the reduction in valuation allowed. See more details about disability here
The completed LPT Return form will have to be sent back to Revenue by 7th May 2013. There is also an option to file an LPT Return form online at revenue.ie – which has to be done by 28 May 2013 .
If a Local Property Tax Return is sent to a person who is not the liable owner of the property, he or she need to inform Revenue that they are not liable and let Revenue know who is liable .
More About The Property Tax Here
So – it looks like there’s no avoiding the Local Property Tax. Even if your house is missed off the Property Tax Database it will be spotted when it is sold or inherited. Revenue have said that if a property owner doesn’t get a Property Tax return they need to contact Revenue .
There are probably going to be thousands of tax returns issued to people who don’t own the property – but if they ignore it the Revenue will start charging them anyway – and the default option is deduction from salary or pensions/benefits.
A recent IMF report mentioned that self assessment for property tax was not very common – they only mentioned one place where it had been used with success – and that was Bogota in Columbia !
A 2002 internal report by staff at the World Bank about Property Taxes – mentioned that “self-assessment is an appealing procedure to poor countries with little administrative capacity. It does not require assessment staff, and it appears to be easy to implement.”
A recent World Bank report about property taxes said that ……
“Self-assessment can lead to inaccurate estimates of property values with a tendency toward underestimation. It violates the principle of fairness on the basis of ability to pay because people with comparable properties will not necessarily pay comparable taxes. Generally lower-valued properties have a lower rate of underestimation than do higher valued properties, making this assessment approach regressive (taxes are relatively higher on low-valued properties). Under-estimation also obviously erodes the size of the tax base .”
It is hard to see how many rural dwellers , especially the elderly – are going to be able to guess the value of their home. They might have lived in the same house for 30 or 40 years – with the only houses sold near them in recent years being newly built ones. The property price register will be no help – because it only lists location and price – no mention of bedrooms or size etc. As Oliver Hardy used to say – ” another fine mess “
Bogota is not a country. It is the capital of Colombia, which is a country.
Ireland fits right in there as these are all poor countries.
In the town where I live in Co Donegal a property was listed in the local estate agents at €350,000 the owner sold it at auction for €67,000. A property at €67,000 will cost €225 per year property tax, the property at €350,000 will cost €675 per year.Will the government repay the €450 a year difference plus interest when the owner is forced to sell for this type of over payment of tax! I think not.
Basing the tax on market value is a time bomb for home owners.
Prices at present are depressed and given the obsession with property that helped get us into this situation, they will only go up again rapidly if the economy recovers. Recovery will probably be signalled by inflation, with house prices rising again at alarming rates like we have seen in the past and the property tax increasing pro rata.
I for one as a retired person on a small pension will not be able to pay. So this becomes a charge on the property, robbing my children of all I worked to leave them.
My house has subsidence with visible cracks.
I got it valued in 2003 and it was estimated at 50,000
below the value.
I wonder what is the government position on this ??
Wait and see what suggested value the Revenue put on your house in March
Tax is a pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government.
It is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, whether under the name of toll, tribute, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or any other name.
Once a tax is put in place, we will be paying it even after the next “Celtic Tiger” comes along, then only to find some other bungling by the government sends us into recession again.
Fate is irresistible, there is no escape.
How much has the average house price dropped since 2007. I live in Cork
According to CSO figures the average fall in house prices since early 2007 is 43%
I live in a small one and a half bedroom cottage with a small pump station at the bottom of the garden to connect me to the main surge system. It is difficult to insure the property as more than 25% is under a flat roof and was built pre 1900. How can I value my property as it is unique in the area which is an affluent area.
Good Luck with that Don.
They randomly split up my area into grids one side is 50,000-100,000 and the other side is 100,001-150,000. How in blazes am i expected to value my house when 3 neighours within a block have there houses on the market for 80,000, 100,000 and 130,000.
There isnt a lot of difference between our properties, so which band do i pick? or should i just my home valued for sale?
Seriously i think there just inventing the grid areas as my sister lives in donegal has a 5 bedroom 2 bathroom, 2 onsuites and an acre plot and we are in the same tax bracket as my 3 bed 1 bath in limerick city
dont pay it………. your getting nothing for it…. this money goes to repay the banks that ripped us off…. nothing is being done about peoples arrears, there are hardly any jobs here and people are living on a small wage with huge bills….
If they are asking me to “self assess”, are they asking me to complete some work for them? If they are asking, are they entering into a contract with me that I can charge them for my time. I never agreed to do this work for free and my time is expensive. Currently, I charge €400 per hour to do internet research so I figure that this will take me about 4 hours to come to a resonable estimate. Once they agree and pay me my €1600, then they can have my assessment and I’ll pay their property tax.
There has always been a property tax in England. (Previously rates, now council tax which is used to help provide local services such as refuse collection, parks, fire service and police.
My parents went back to Ireland in the late 1990’s having emigrated to England in the 1950’s. What I would like to know is when my father is no longer alive will his four daughters in England have to pay this tax. None of us are wealthy people, and none of us have any money left over each month after paying bills. The house my father lives in was built in 1997 on family owned land in rural Ireland and is now worth absolutely nothing. Who would want to buy a house in the middle of nowhere with the nearest shop ten miles away and no public transport of any sort.
Mary – any property that is occupied or suitable for occupation is liable for the Property Tax. It doesn’t matter if the owner lives overseas.
Mary, if, as you say, the property has such little value, then the property tax will be less than €100 per year, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.
I would advise you to sell the property when your father passes on, but to go through the hassle of selling a house just to avoid a measly €100 a year tax is insanity. It would be so much less hassle jut to pay the tax.
I have received no letter about the value of my property . the revenue website which is supposed to show a map of values based on location is useless.I object to a tax which helps dropouts from outside countries claim monies when there is no means check upon arrival .i object to rogue property developers and incompetent banks getting my hard earned tax paid cash , Michael.