Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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14. To ask the Minister for Finance the total revenues collected from the local property tax to date broken down by local authority area; the first expected date when sums corresponding to local property tax revenues will be transferred from the central fund to the local government fund; the reason such transfers may be postponed; if he has this year requested moneys to be transferred from the local government fund in accordance with section 7 of the Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Act 2013; if so, the dates and amounts of such transfers; the specific purpose of reallocating this money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49259/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the yield from the Local Property Tax (LPT), I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that preliminary yield and compliance data in relation to LPT for 2013 are compiled on the basis of the numbers of properties and are available broken down by City and County Councils nationally. The most up to date figures are published on the Revenue Commissioners website at: and details of LPT collected for 2013 to date are provided below. I am also advised that there is an element of estimation involved in the breakdown of the amounts collected across local authorities.

The Commissioners also advise that work is ongoing to refine the LPT Register, and more detailed and up-to-date data will be published in due course. The Deputies will be aware that the Pay and File campaign for LPT 2014 in underway and this is Revenue’s current priority in relation to LPT.

I am further advised that by the end of October 2013 approximately €215m had been transferred by Revenue to the Exchequer in respect of LPT.

Section 157 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, as amended, provides that, in each financial year commencing with 2014, the Minister shall pay from the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof into the Local Government Fund an amount equivalent to the Local Property Tax, including any interest paid thereon, paid into the Central Fund during that year. However, the Act does not specify when these receipts are to be paid over. A decision has yet to be made regarding how and when transfers will take place, and officials from my Department and the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government will discuss this issue in the coming weeks.

Section 7(c) of the Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Act 2013 allows the Minister of Finance to request a payment of up to €150 million out of the Local Government Fund. Although I have not done so to date I will be requesting €100 million from the Fund before the end of the year in order to help breach the gap between the expenditure incurred and revenue raised by the State. This amount has been factored into the Budget 2013 revenue.

It should be noted that following consideration of the options arising from a public consultation process to review the structure and rates of Motor Tax which I first announced in Budget 2012, reforms were implemented to Motor Tax in Budget 2013 to yield an additional €100 million. At the time I made it known that this additional revenue would be used for the purposes of reduction of the outstanding deficit between the receipts and expenditure of Government.

Local Authority - Amounts Collected

Preliminary Analysis based on Returns Filed to Date for 2013