Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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147. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of properties that are estimated to have an outstanding liability in respect of the household charge in 2012 and to date in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54014/13]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Revenue Commissioners intend to launch a compliance campaign for those with outstanding payments due of the household charge; the amount they intend to spend on this campaign; if they will ensure that before the launch of any such campaign that all efforts have been made to reconcile the list of those who have paid the charge with their property tax record to ensure that persons do not receive unnecessary and alarming contacts from the Revenue in the event of any such campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54015/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together.

Information about Household Charge payments up to 30 June 2013 is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and I understand he is replying to the Deputy separately.

Section 156 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) provides that where the Household Charge for 2012 had not been paid by 1 July 2013 the arrears amount is increased to €200 and is regarded as Local Property Tax (LPT). I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the €200 arrears can be paid by property owners using any of the payment methods that are currently available for paying LPT. I understand that to date about €1.79m has been paid directly to Revenue in respect of almost 9,000 properties.

I am further advised that an extensive data matching exercise has been undertaken by Revenue since it received details from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) of those properties where the Household Charge has been paid or, in respect of which a waiver or exemption from the charge has been granted. Revenue has confirmed that the vast majority of data from the LGMA’s Household Charge Register has already been matched with its Local Property Tax Register and that the necessary work to finalise this process is ongoing.

Revenue has informed me that the Household Charge payment has been matched to over 1.2 million properties on the LPT Register. It will not be possible to fully match all Household Charge payments to the LPT Register. The main difficulty is where different people paid the Household Charge and the LPT for the same property. The Household Charge registration process only captured details of the person who paid the Household Charge, and where someone other than the owner paid the Household Charge the owner’s details are not on the Household Charge Register. In addition where a property has multiple owners, if different owners paid the Household Charge and the LPT, the Registers may not match. These mis-matches arise particularly in the case of properties with non-unique addresses.

I strongly recommend property owners to check their LPT record online at www.revenue.ie with their Property ID and PIN. If Revenue’s LPT record shows that there is €200 LPT/ Household Charge arrears but they have paid their Household Charge, they should send Revenue a copy of the receipt for the Household Charge and Revenue will remove the charge from the LPT record. If they have paid it and they do not have a receipt they should contact their Local Authority or the LGMA for a receipt and send a copy to Revenue. In this way anybody who has paid their Household Charge can ensure that Revenue’s records are corrected.

As outlined above, unpaid Household Charge at 1 July 2013 became a €200 LPT liability. This was due for payment on that date and interest on unpaid LPT/ Household Charge arrears continues to accrue. Revenue advises me that the amount will be capped at €200 if paid before they formally launch their LPT/Household Charge compliance campaign. However, if it is not paid in line with that campaign, interest will be charged; for example, if the outstanding Household Charge is paid on 30 April 2014, the amount payable will be €213.

Revenue will begin a compliance campaign on LPT/Household Charge arrears in the first quarter of 2014 and they intend to make property owners aware of this on the Revenue website, in press releases, through interviews with Revenue spokespeople on local and national media, and if necessary, through formal media advertising. Alongside this public awareness campaign, Revenue will also contact potential non-compliant property owners directly regarding their obligations.

At this stage, the 2012 Household Charge has been paid for over 1.2 million properties and LPT for 2013 has been paid for over 1.6 million properties. The Revenue Commissioners have a duty, in the interests of fairness and equity to those who are compliant, to take effective follow-up action to recover the tax from the non-compliant. Revenue will pursue unpaid 2013 LPT liability for the relatively small proportion of properties still outstanding and will also pursue the outstanding LPT/ Household Charge arrears.

Further information on Household Charge arrears is available in the LPT Frequently Asked Questions section of the Revenue website.