Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 560: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if all the household tax registration forms received have now been processed. [26394/12]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 561: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of households that registered for the household tax and the number of households which were deemed liable to pay the charge. [26395/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 560 and 561 together.

The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides the legislative basis for the household charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge, unless entitled to claim a waiver or otherwise exempt.

The household charge is on a self-assessment basis and it is a matter for an owner of a residential property on the liability date to determine if he or she has a liability and, if so, to declare that liability and pay the household charge.

The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) is administering the household charge system on a shared service/agency basis for all county and city councils. I understand, from data provided by the LGMA, that as of 30 May 2012, a total of 916,214 property declarations had been processed by the household charge bureau. 899,121 registered for payment of the charge, equating to some €90.3m. 17,093 residential properties have been registered for a waiver from payment of the charge.

In addition, an estimated 28,800 postal declarations have been received in the household charge bureau, which have yet to be processed; these equate to a further €2.88m. This gives a total number of 945,014 declarations made equating to over €93m.

It is estimated that some 1.62 million residential properties are liable to the household charge.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 562: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the Central Statistics Office data from the 2011 Census that there are 1,994,845 housing units in the State and that 1,850,870 are liable to register for the household tax total minus social and voluntary. [26396/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides the legislative basis for the household charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver. The household charge is on a self-assessment basis and it is a matter for an owner of a residential property on the liability date to determine if he/she has a liability and, if so, to declare that liability and pay the household charge.

The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides for a number of exemptions and waivers from payment of the household charge. The exemptions from payment of the household charge are -

· Residential properties that are part of the trading stock of a business and have not been sold or been the source of any income since construction,

· Residential property owned by a Minister of the Government, a housing authority or the Health Service Executive,

· Voluntary and co-operative housing,

· Residential property subject to commercial rates and wholly used as a dwelling,

· Residential property owned by certain charities or discretionary trusts, and

· Residential property which an owner has vacated due to long-term mental or physical infirmity (e.g. elderly person that has moved into a nursing home).

The waivers which apply concern -

· Owners of residential property entitled to mortgage interest supplement, and

· Owners of houses in certain unfinished housing estates.

It is estimated that, having regard to exemptions and waivers, some 1.62 million residential properties are liable to the household charge.