Revenue to contact 1.4M home owners

Revenue is set to contact over 1.4m property owners directly in the coming weeks to explain three things they need to do to meet their Local Property Tax obligations for 2022.

They must determine the market value of their property as at November 1, 2021. They must then submit their LPT return including their valuation by November 7 and, finally, make arrangements to pay the relevant LPT charge for 2022.

The rate of LPT in County Cavan is to be retained at its current level for 2022, as agreed by members at the July meeting of the local authority.

The revenue raised by the tax is used to fund services such as: public parks, libraries, open spaces and leisure amenities, planning and development, fire and emergency services, maintenance and cleaning of streets, and street lighting.

Funds from the LPT are matched with funds from central government to finance. Cavan County Council estimate they will collect €4,549,565 directly from the tax in 2022. The local authority return 20% to an equalisation fund and when this is redistributed it brings the council property tax take to €9,480,501.

In 2020, Cavan homeowners saw LPT increased by 15%. Members made the unanimous decision for the increase following a presentation by the council executive, outlining the need to bolster funds in response to a pandemic related shortfall.

Payments

Property owners can choose to pay their LPT Charge in a single payment, over the course of the year in instalments or via salary deduction at source.

To date, residential property owners, whose properties were liable to LPT from 2013 to 2021, have paid LPT based on their self-assessed valuations at May 1, 2013. The new self-assessed valuation on November 1, 2021, will determine the LPT to be paid each year from 2022 to 2025.

These obligations apply for all residential properties, including vacant properties, properties that were not liable to LPT from 2013 to 2021, and properties not yet registered with Revenue for LPT.

Online valuation tool

As LPT is a self-assessed tax, the first step that property owners should take is to determine the market value of their residential property. An interactive valuation tool and detailed guidance have been provided on Revenue’s website for property owners to help them to meet their LPT obligations for 2022. The interactive valuation tool will assist property owners with their self-assessment by providing an estimated average valuation band for residential properties in each area in a map format. Property owners can find their own area on the map by simply entering the property’s Eircode or location.

Revenue has reminded property owners that the interactive valuation tool is a guide only. They should consider the specifics of their property and assess whether its value falls within the average valuation band for their area. Revenue has also included guidance regarding the different information sources that property owners can use to self-assess their property’s value.

Katie Clair, principal officer in Revenue’s Local Property Tax branch, is encouraging property owners to start the self-assessment of their property’s value by using the interactive valuation tool:

“Once property owners have assessed the market value of their property, they should submit the LPT Return and confirm a payment arrangement for 2022 by 7 November 2021. The easiest and quickest way to do this is online via www.revenue.ie. It is mandatory to submit online returns for properties valued at greater than €1.75m or where property owners are liable for LPT on more than one property.”

Ms Clair added: “Some residential properties are not currently registered with Revenue, for example, because their owners built their property in the period since 2013. However, a property becomes liable for LPT for the next valuation period from 2022 to 2025, as long as it is a residential property on 1 November 2021.”

She's urging newly-liable property owners register their property at www.revenue.ie and complete the same three step process. This also applies to owners of vacant properties.

Exemptions

Those who are eligible to apply for an exemption are still required to provide their self-assessed valuation and select the appropriate exemption category on their LPT Return.