Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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27. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason a person must pay additional costs when paying taxes by instalments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10405/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that it does not charge any additional costs where a liable person opts to pay Local Property Tax (LPT) through phased payment arrangements (instalments). Phased payments by deduction at source from salary, occupational pension or certain Government payments are entirely free of charge.  However, certain LPT payment options including, credit card, direct debit and cash payment through service providers are provided by either financial institutions or commercial entities and are subject to transaction fees. Revenue has no role in regard to the setting of these fees nor does it profit in any way from their payment.

For the Deputy's information, there are currently eight separate payment options available for LPT including,

- Single Debit Authority, which operates like an electronic cheque. This option is activated by completing the payslip on the LPT Return and will not be deducted from bank accounts by Revenue any earlier than 21 March 2014 in respect of the 2014 LPT liability

- Debit/Credit cards.

- Cheque/Bank Draft/Postal Order.

- Cash payments (including debit/credit cards) through Revenue approved Payment Service Providers.

- Phased cash payment arrangements (including debit/credit cards) through Revenue approved Payment Service Providers.

- Deduction at source from salary or occupational pension.

- Deduction at source from certain payments received from the Department of Social Protection and from payments received from the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine.

- Direct Debit, which is deducted on the 15th day of each month over the course of the year. 

 In regard to the cash payment option, the approved payment service providers are An Post TaxPay, Payzone and Omnivend.  These service providers were approved because they have extensive nationwide outlets and are easily accessible right across the country. They provide liable persons with the facility to pay LPT in full or on a phased weekly/monthly basis as best suits individual circumstances. I understand that currently, An Post charges €1 per transaction; Payzone charges 75 cents per transaction for payments up to €50, €1 per transaction for payments between €50.01 and €100 and €2 per transaction for payments over €100; and Omnivend charges a fee of 4% per transaction.

In regard to the specific case to which the Deputy refers, the person in question opted to meet his LPT liabilities through one of these approved service providers and on that basis is liable to the transaction charges as outlined. I must again stress that Revenue has no role in the imposition of these charges.

Again for the Deputy's information, Revenue has confirmed to me that the 'deduction at source' options as outlined above do not incur any transaction fees or additional costs and deduct the LPT liability in phased amounts across the course of the year. If the person in question is interested in changing his preferred payment option to deduction at source, he can do so online by using his Property ID and PI number to access his details or he can contact the LPT Helpline at 1890 200255.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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28. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide in tabular form a county breakdown of the estimated local property tax income in 2014; the total collected in 2013 combined with compliance rates to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10420/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that compliance data in relation to the Local Property Tax (LPT) is available broken down by city and county councils nationally. The most up to date figures for 2013 and 2014, which were published on 18 February 2014, are available on the Commissioners website at: .  

While the 2014 forecasted yield for LPT nationally is €550 million, the Commissioners advise that it is not possible to state the precise amount of LPT which is expected to be collected for each City and County Council in 2014. A number of factors could affect the outcome, including the continuation of the strong level of voluntary compliance that was achieved in 2013, the impact of Revenue s compliance programme to follow up with those liable persons who have failed to meet their LPT obligations for 2013 and 2014, and the compliance programme for the collection of arrears of household charge/LPT.  

The Commissioners have confirmed that by the end of December 2013 €318m had been transferred by Revenue to the Exchequer in respect of LPT. Of this amount, €242m was in respect of LPT for 2013 and €76m relates to 2014 LPT. By the end of January 2014, a further €32.6m was transferred by Revenue to the Exchequer.