Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance if there is any circumstance in which a home owner may have the valuation of his or her property altered (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51730/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) sets out how a residential property is to be valued for Local Property Tax (LPT) purposes. LPT is a self-assessed tax so it is a matter for the property owner to calculate the tax due based on his or her assessment of the market value of the property as at 1 May 2013. For the purposes of LPT, values for properties under €1 million are organised into valuation bands, with an initial band of €0 to €100,000 and 18 bands of €50,000 width from €100,001 to €1 million As property owners were not required to provide a precise value for their property, it is anticipated that for the most part overpayments of LPT should not happen. When completing their LPT Return earlier this year, it was expected that property owners would make their best endeavours to self-assess the value of their property at 1 May 2013 and the Revenue Commissioners provided guidance, including an online valuation guidance tool, to assist property owners in making their self-assessment.

I am also advised that the initial valuation of a property on 1 May 2013, assuming it was made in good faith, is valid up to and including 2016 and will not be affected by any increase or decrease in property prices or other changes, during this period. Accordingly where the owner self-assessed the value of their residential property on 1 May 2013 and placed it in a particular valuation band but, due to a general decrease in property prices after that date, the property has sold for an amount less than the self-assessed amount, the owner would not be entitled to a refund of tax. In the same way, if the property had increased in value in that period, no additional LPT charge would apply.

The Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that if the liable person has genuinely overpaid the tax through an error or mistake concerning the property’s value as at 1 May 2013, then they should write to LPT Branch, Government Buildings, Ennis, Co Clare, setting out fully the nature of the error or mistake and explaining the circumstances in which the overpayment arose. They are required to provide any relevant documentation to support the basis for their self-assessed valuation at 1 May 2013 which may include professional valuations obtained at the time or house price surveys for the area. They should also indicate whether they relied on Revenue’s online valuation guidance tool for the purposes of their self-assessment.

I am further advised by the Commissioners that once the relevant documentation is received LPT Branch will make direct contact with the person. Should it transpire that the person did in fact genuinely overpay the 2013 liability, on account of their error or mistake in self-assessing the valuation band at 1 May 2013 for their residential property, it will then be possible to offset some or all of the overpayment to the 2014 liability, if appropriate, or to make a repayment.