Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will carry out an impact assessment of the property tax on social housing service providers. [14060/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 7 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) provides that local authorities and other providers of social housing will be liable to pay the LPT on their properties in the same way as any other residential property owner, unless the properties in question are used to accommodate people with special housing needs such as the elderly or people with disabilities. Special housing needs refers to the provision of housing and support for people who have a particular need in addition to a general housing need to enable them to live in the community. To avail of the exemption from LPT, the social housing provider must operate as a charity and must have a general tax exemption granted by the Revenue Commissioners. The Revenue Commissioners and officials from my Department have had extensive contacts regarding the LPT obligations of social housing providers either directly with the providers themselves (e.g. Focus Ireland) or indirectly through the Irish Council for Social Housing. Guidelines are being developed which clarify what constitutes special housing needs and support in order to assist local authorities and other social housing providers to determine whether their properties are exempt from the charge to LPT. Input was sought and received from representatives of social housing providers in connection with the development of the guidelines. The draft guidelines are currently being considered by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Irish Council for Social Housing.

Where a property owned by a local authority or other provider of social housing is not exempt from the charge to LPT because it is not used to provide special needs accommodation, the Act provides that the market value of any such property will be deemed to fall into the lowest valuation band of zero to €100,000 up to and including 2016. This will result in an LPT charge of €45 per property for 2013 and €90 per year for 2014 to 2016. It will be a matter for local authorities and other social housing providers themselves to decide whether they will pass on the LPT liability to their tenants in the form of an increase in rent or whether they will absorb the liability without recourse to their tenants. In addition, the Act also gives local authorities and other social housing providers until 1 January 2014 to pay the 2013 tax.

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they have liaised with the social housing sector to establish how local authorities and other social housing providers will provide them with information in relation to their LPT liability and the timing and manner of the payment of this liability. All local authorities and social housing providers affiliated to the Irish Council for Social Housing have been contacted in this regard. Revenue is anxious to ensure that any social housing providers who have not already done so should contact it as soon as possible.

Furthermore, the Commissioners have also confirmed that in order to minimise the administration burden on these bodies, it is Revenue’s intention to require each social housing provider to complete and submit a single LPT Return in respect of all the residential properties it owns, rather than seeking a separate Return for each individual property. In view of the engagement that has taken place with the Irish Council for Social Housing and the specific arrangements made for the sector both in the law and in the administration of the tax, I do not propose to carry out an impact assessment.