THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS has announced further details of how the new property tax will be levied – including details of the deadlines by which declarations of the value of a home will have to be returned.
Revenue has this morning confirmed that the value of the tax to be paid this year will be based on the self-assessed value of a home on May 1 – with paper filing of returns due by May 7, and online filing due by May 28.
The National Property Price Register and current property sales listings have been recommended as a way for householders to estimate the current market value of their homes.
Revenue also hopes to publish an online interactive guide to indicate prospective property prices at its website, www.revenue.ie, this weekend.
Revenue chairwoman Josephine Feehily this morning said there may be some initial errors in the rollout of the charge, as it does not have any existing comprehensive record of properties in the country, meaning a “small minority” of households may have forms posted to them in error.
“This could occur, for example, where a son or daughter paid the Household Charge on behalf of a parent and the Household Charge system connected the property to the payer rather than the owner,” she said.
Householders who receive a mail from the Revenue on the charge, but who are not the owner of the property being referred to, have been advised to contact Revenue immediately so that the property’s true owner can be contacted instead.
“An essential feature of self-assessment is the presumption of honesty – the same as all other taxes. When we say where Revenue’s guidance is used honestly we will accept the valuation submitted we mean just that.”
Finance minister Michael Noonan has previously indicated that householders who underdeclare their value of their homes, in order to reduce their tax liability, will be forced to pay arrears tax if the house is sold on.
The purchaser of a new property will be obliged to inform the Revenue Commissioners if the price they paid for the home is significantly less than the Revenue’s valuation – which will be part-determined by entries to the National Property Price Register – in order to avoid extra liabilities themselves.
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