Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that a correctly completed form P45 is required, under PAYE regulations, to be given by an employer to an employee on cessation of employment. The form P45 is a notification to Revenue that an employee has ceased employment with that employer. The form also contains details of the employee's pay, tax and PRSI contributions from the start of the year to the date of cessation of employment. The P45 will show the date of commencement of that employment if the period of employment commenced since 1st January in the current tax year.

If an employee does not get a form P45 when leaving he or she should ask the employer for a P45 and repeat the request if necessary. If the employer still fails to provide a P45, the employee should notify their local Revenue District, in this case the Revenue Kildare District, by telephone, email or in writing, that they have failed, after several attempts, to get a P45 and stating what the problem is. The matter will then be followed up quickly by Revenue with the employer.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 298: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of local authorities which have implemented the new rateable valuation calculation; the procedure used for the new valuation process; the way it differs from the old; his views on the impact that the new rateable valuation will have on business costs; if he will continue the process; if he will confirm that the procedure has resulted in an increase of 48% in one shopping centre and 62% in another (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38046/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Valuation Act, 2001, which came into effect on 2nd May 2002 provides for the revaluation of all commercial and industrial property. I have been informed by the Commissioner of Valuation that the revaluation programme began in November 2005 in the South Dublin County Council area and has since been rolled out to the areas covered by Fingal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils. The revaluation of South Dublin was completed in December 2007, Fingal will be completed later this year and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will be completed in 2010. It is intended to roll out the programme to a further local authority area in the coming months and the necessary process of consultation is underway.

Once a local authority has been revalued, the Valuation Act provides for a subsequent revaluation not sooner than 5 but not later than 10 years. I should point out that under the 2001 Valuation Act, the Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the exercise of his duties under the Act and I, as Minister for Finance, have no functions in this regard.

The basis of rateable valuation for all commercial property is net annual value (NAV) i.e. the rental value of the property. In a revaluation properties are assessed, in accordance with statute, by reference to rental values at a specific valuation date and a new list of valuations is produced. This new list is then used by the rating authority to levy rates on individual ratepayers. The old valuation lists date from the Griffith Valuation carried out in the 19th century. Maintaining these lists requires the Valuation Office to determine valuations by reference to the values of comparable properties on the same valuation list. The result is a list of valuations that bear no resemblance to modern valuation levels and contain many anomalies.

The Act provides for the rates income to be capped in the year following a revaluation so that the total amount of rates income of a local authority in the year following a revaluation shall not exceed the total amount of rates income of the preceding year, adjusted to take account of changes to the Consumer Price Index. Revaluation is essentially about the redistribution of the commercial rates burden between ratepayers depending on the relative shift in the rental values of the properties they occupy. It is the relative value of properties to each other rather than the absolute value of an individual property, which will determine whether the rates liability of any given property decreases or increases, following a revaluation.

The revaluation in the South Dublin County Council area resulted in 39% of ratepayers having an increased rates liability and 49% of ratepayers a reduced rates liability. The two major shopping centres in South Dublin had contrasting outcomes; one had a reduced rates liability overall of 6% while the other had an increased rates liability of 55%. The Fingal revaluation is not finalised yet and definitive figures will not be available until December 2009.

Any individual ratepayer who is dissatisfied with the outcome of the revaluation of their property may appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation in the first instance and subsequently to the independent Valuation Tribunal as provided for in the Valuation Act, 2001. The purpose of revaluation is to bring more equity, fairness and transparency into the local authority rating system and following completion of the initial national revaluation programme, I am satisfied that there will be a much closer and uniform relationship between rental values of property and their commercial rates liability and that this relationship will thereafter be maintained by means of the recurring revaluations provided for in the Act. In essence the exercise is aimed at ensuring a fair sharing of the rates burden across all categories of ratepayers.