Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The residential zoned land tax, RZLT, is a new tax introduced in the Finance Act 2021. It seeks to increase housing supply by encouraging the activation of development on lands that are suitably zoned and appropriately serviced. It is important to note that to come within the scope of the RZLT, farmland must be both zoned for residential use and serviced. Farmland that is zoned for residential use but not currently serviced is not within the scope of the tax and will only come within its scope should the land become serviced at some point in the future.

Agricultural land that is zoned solely or primarily for residential use currently meets the criteria set out within the legislation and therefore falls within the scope of the tax. Agricultural land that is zoned for a mixture of uses, including residential, is not in scope. These zonings are considered to reflect the housing need set out within the core strategy of the relevant local authority area. Landowners within such zonings may fall within the scope of the tax in the interests of ensuring an appropriate supply of housing on zoned lands.

This tax measure is a key pillar of the Government's response to address the urgent need to increase housing supply in suitable locations. However, it is important that affected landowners have sufficient opportunity to engage with the mapping process and that a fair and transparent process is applied when local authorities consider what land should be placed on the RZLT maps. Therefore, as part of the budget, it was decided to extend the initial liability date of the tax by one year, from February 2024 to February 2025. The purpose of this deferral is to allow for the annual mapping cycle to complete and to afford landowners, including landowners of actively farmed land, another opportunity to make submissions if their land is included on the maps prepared by local authorities.

In addition, the Department of housing has indicated to me that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, intends to write to local authority chief executives requesting that local authorities give strong consideration to requests for rezoning, some of which relate to agricultural land, taking into account existing planning policy that seeks to focus the approach to zoning on the sequential development of settlements, particularly lands that are located closest to the centre of settlements, along with housing targets contained in their development plans. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the recommendation.