Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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159. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will estimate the number of residential properties in respect of which Revenue has not issued letters regarding the local property tax; and the plans to follow up the liable persons in respect of these properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21572/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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An important aspect of the work undertaken by Revenue in the implementation of Local Property Tax (LPT) has been the compilation of the first ever Register of residential properties in the State and the matching of the residential property with its owner or owners, where this information was available. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that LPT Returns, personalised letters and an LPT Guide have issued to owners of 1.66 million residential properties either by post or by way of their ROS (Revenue Online Service) inbox. In the absence of a Register, it is not possible to state the number of residential properties in respect of which Revenue has not issued an LPT Return. I am advised that there are a number of possible reasons why the owners of certain residential properties have not yet been received LPT Returns, including:

Where the original LPT Return and personalised letter, which was issued as part of the general issue of LPT Returns, has been sent back undelivered by An Post. I am advised that there are approximately 26,000 such letters, of which some 9,000 have already been reissued, and work on the others is ongoing.

Several properties have the same non-unique address, which is not unusual in rural areas. A further complication in this category is cases where the owners' first names and surnames are the same.

A property was not reflected in any of the original data sources that Revenue used to establish the LPT Register. This would largely consist of new residential properties acquired since the start of the year, which are now in use as a residence.

As regards the follow up, I am advised that the Commissioners are continuing to refine and build the Register from additional data sources. They will also re-fresh the LPT Register shortly with the most updated version of the Local Government Management Agency's (LGMA) Household Charge database and they will continue to do this until the LGMA database is handed over to them after 1 July 2013.

As the Deputy is aware, LPT is a self-assessed tax and, in common with other self-assessed taxes, certain responsibilities rest with the taxpayer even where they have not received a communication from Revenue. I have indicated to the House on a number of occasions, most recently in my reply to Questions Nos. 87 and 92 on 1 May (20686/13 and 20652/13), that liable persons, who have not yet received a Return from Revenue, must still self-assess the amount of LPT due, complete and file their LPT Return and pay the tax due. They should contact the LPT helpline on 1890 200 255 or they can login to LPT online at www.revenue.ie and file a return by clicking on the "I have not received a Property PIN" tab. There is good evidence on the helpline that people are responding to the message.

The process of ensuring that the LPT Register is as accurate and complete as possible will be an ongoing one, given the scale of the task, and will continue beyond the filing deadlines. I am satisfied that the continuing work of the Commissioners will ensure that all residential property owners are registered for the tax and will be advised of their compliance obligations if they do not come forward of their own accord.