John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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193. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny has been required to pay €1,125 property tax for 2014 in view of the fact that they paid €125 in 2013; if his Department's records will be corrected as soon as possible. [49218/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The administration of the Local Property Tax is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners. My Department does not hold any records on individual tax payers. I am advised by Revenue that a key aspect of the work it has undertaken in connection with the administration of Local Property Tax (LPT) has been the development of a register of residential properties in the State. The development of the register required Revenue to extract and consolidate data from multiple Government and non-Government sources.

The Deputy will be aware that Revenue clearly indicated at the commencement of the LPT project that errors in the compilation of the Property Register were inevitable given the scale of the task and requested that anybody who received incorrect information in regard to their properties to contact the LPT Helpline at 1890 200255 or to write to the LPT Branch, PO Box 1, Ennis, Co Clare.

On the specific case mentioned by the Deputy, the person in question was linked to a property at Goresbridge, Kilkenny on the basis of records imported by Revenue from another Government agency database, during the development of the LPT Property Register. Revenue has confirmed that the LPT Return in respect of this property issued to the person in March 2013. The correspondence included with the Return clearly requested that if the person was not the liable owner that he immediately notify Revenue. There is no record of any contact or correspondence disputing the accuracy of the property record being received from the person.

The person did however file two separate returns, thereby generating two separate property records, in respect of a property at Dublin Road, Kilkenny. The person indicated a Band 4 liability and paid €202 in respect of the LPT due.

The 2014 LPT charge, which the person received in October was based on the information input to the Property Register for the 2013 half year, i.e. one Band 3 property at €315 and two Band 4 properties at €810 giving a total of €1,125. The person’s records also show an amount outstanding in respect of the Household Charge which also now needs to be addressed.

On further investigation it appears that the linkage of the property at Goresbridge to the person may be incorrect but this needs to be confirmed. It is also clear that the second property at Dublin Road was set up by the person in error and has now been removed from the Register.

Revenue will now make direct contact with the person in the coming days to confirm his connection or otherwise to the Goresbridge property and to confirm his correct LPT/Household Charge liability.