Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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61. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to concerns of taxpayers regarding having to pay the property tax for once-off payments so far in advance of when the tax is actually due; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47652/13]

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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68. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will extend the deadline from 1 January 2014 for persons who wish to pay their local property tax in full by cash as the date for payment is 1 January 2014; if he will extend this deadline to 1 March 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47739/13]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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71. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason those paying the property tax for 2014 using a credit or debit card cannot pay the tax in the year in which it is due; and if he will consider extending the deadline for such payments to the end of January 2014 or later. [47786/13]

Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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81. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will intervene and give householders a reasonable time in which to pay the property tax for 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47874/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 61, 68, 71 and 81 together.

Similar questions concerning payment of the 2014 LPT liability have been raised by a number of Deputies previously and I provided a detailed reply on 5 November to Questions Nos. 143 [47110/13], 202 [46491/13], 214 [46815/13], 215 [46879/13], 216 [46881/13], 229 [46999/13], 232 [47059/13], 239 [47101/13], and 252 (47136/13) which addresses many of the issues raised by Deputies in these Questions.

There is no requirement on any property owner to pay their 2014 LPT before 1 January 2014. Furthermore, the Revenue Commissioners have made payment options available which provide property owners with options to pay in phased payments during 2014 or in one single debit from their current account as late as 21 March 2014. Property owners are fully entitled to change their chosen payment method for 2014, and also entitled to apply for a deferral of the tax if they consider that they are entitled by reference to their financial circumstances, by completing the LPT return on paper or online.

I am satisfied that the range of payment options are such that no property owner has to pay their LPT liability for 2014 before the end of this year unless they choose to do so and I note that the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners informed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform that large numbers of property owners have been successfully filing returns and selecting a payment option for 2014. The Committee was also informed that, due to the volume of queries regarding Local Property Tax (LPT) payment methods from people who filed their 2013 return on paper, the Commissioners have extended the 2014 paper LPT filing deadline from 7 to 14 November 2013.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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62. To ask the Minister for Finance the action being taken to reduce call waiting times in the local property tax section of the Revenue Commissioners (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47653/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that the introduction of Local Property Tax (LPT), which was the largest extension of the self-assessment system in its history, represents a very great administrative challenge. For example, Revenue has answered in excess of 580,000 telephone calls and replied to in excess of 200,000 letters or emails since March 2013. Revenue has further advised that because LPT is a new tax it is difficult to anticipate service volumes, and as a consequence the number of agents required.

Revenue has acknowledged that exceptional delays in accessing the helpline, which is the primary contact point for LPT queries, were experienced by some callers in the days immediately following the issue of the 2014 notifications. Access was also hampered on an intermittent basis on those days by technical issues in the service provider’s telephony system, which have since been resolved.

In response to the demand for service, Revenue ensured that extra resources were deployed to the helpline within two days of the peak period occurring and also deployed extra resources to its own internal support service to cater for the more complex queries. It has put contingency plans in place to further rapidly increase the number of agents on the helpline should it be necessary to do so. In total there are now 200 agents fully deployed to LPT telephone call handling. In addition to the extra staff deployment, callers can now leave their telephone contact details on the system in preference to waiting for service and will receive an out of hours ‘call back’ from the LPT team. Revenue has extended the helpline opening hours from 9am to 5pm to 8am to 8pm since 6 November and will maintain these hours for the peak filing periods.

Revenue has also extended the paper filing date by one week to 14 November to allow people further consider their 2014 payment method before committing their preferred option to Revenue. The combined initiatives of additional deployments, extended opening hours and the extended paper deadline have already significantly reduced the waiting times on the helpline.

Finally, I again commend Revenue for the excellent work it has done in taking LPT from concept to a fully functioning tax in such a short period of time, including the drafting of legislation, the building of a brand new property register, the provision of customer service to such a large volume of taxpayers and crucially the contribution of €215m to date to the Exchequer.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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63. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the payment of property tax in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 13; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47655/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that there is no obligation on any person to pay their Local Property Tax (LPT) liability for 2014 before 1 January unless they choose to do so to suit their own circumstances.

In October, Revenue wrote to all property owners who paid their 2013 LPT liability in a single payment to remind them of their obligations in regard to 2014. Revenue used the opportunity to clearly outline the various payment options that are available for LPT as a guide to people who might want to change their payment method for 2014, given that it is a full year liability. Revenue also needs to ensure it has enough lead in time to process all phased payment applications in advance of 1 January so that taxpayers may spread their payments over a full year.

Revenue’s intention in providing seven different payment methods for LPT is to ensure people have the flexibility to meet their liability in a way that best suits their individual circumstances, whether by a single payment or on a phased basis spread out over the year. The options are:

- Phased payment by monthly Direct Debit

- Phased payment by Deduction at Source from salary, pension or certain Government payments

- Single Debit Authority, which is a mandate to debit a bank account once only

- Credit Card

- Debit Card

- Cheque or Postal Order.

- Service Providers, namely An Post, Payzone and Omnivend

On the specific case to which the Deputy refers, Revenue issued a 2014 payment reminder letter to the person in question via his ROS inbox. The letter included a Property ID, PIN and confirmed the amount due for 2014. As the person in question is a ‘multiple property owner’ the letter confirmed the total amount of LPT due on all of his properties.

It is noted that the person in question wishes to meet his 2014 LPT liability by using his debit card. While this is his choice, Revenue has clearly stated on numerous occasions that any such card payment will be debited immediately. This is the nature of card payments. If the person does not want to pay before 1 January it is open to him to choose one of the other options listed above.

As I previously advised the House, all property owners with a debit card also have a bank account. If the property owner concerned wishes to pay in full in one payment in 2014 from the bank account which is attached to his debit card, he has the option to do so. I can confirm that if he uses this option his account will not be debited until 21 March 2014 unless he specifies an earlier payment date. To do this property owners should select and complete the option entitled "single debit authority", which is the second option, when filling out their property tax return online. The Commissioners advise that the single debit authority payment option is drawn on a person's current account in the same way as a debit card payment.

Finally, the person’s concern about the Christmas retail market is noted. However, Revenue has provided payment options which allow people not to pay their full LPT liability until well after Christmas, or in phased payments throughout 2014, should they so choose. I believe that the arrangements are more than adequate and I do not intend to intervene.