Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

124. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons who have been subject to each of the following sanctions in respect of the household charge for 2012: mandatory deduction at source from salary or occupational pension, surcharge on income tax, corporation tax or capital gains tax returns, referral to the Sheriff for collection, referral to the Revenue Commissioners' solicitors for collection through the courts, attachment of financial institution accounts held by the defaulting taxpayer, offset of household charge on any refunds due to the defaulting taxpayer across any other taxes, refusal of tax clearance certification, interest penalty on late payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16415/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am advised by Revenue that with effect from 1 July 2013, Section 156 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) converted all outstanding Household Charge (HHC) liabilities to Local Property Tax (LPT) and increased the outstanding charge to €200. Section 156 also made Revenue responsible for the collection of the outstanding arrears. 

In setting up LPT, Revenue received the HHC Register from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and used it to form part of the building blocks of the LPT Register. As part of the matching process, Revenue cross-referenced both registers to identify a database of properties for which the HHC is still outstanding. However, it is accepted that the database may not be 100% accurate for a number of reasons, including:

- The LGMA Register captured the name of the person who paid the HHC rather than the owner of the property, therefore, for example, where a son or daughter paid the HHC on behalf of a parent and particularly where the address of the property was a 'non-unique' rural address, Revenue may not have been able to match the HHC payment to the right property.

- The legislative basis for both the HHC and LPT are different. For example, some properties that are liable for LPT were exempt from the HHC but the LGMA Register did not capture such exemption details in all cases. For that reason, Revenue could not identify every property that was exempt from HHC through the cross-referencing process.

Notwithstanding the above, Revenue has advised me that any property owner can look up the Revenue online system and see if the Register shows an outstanding HHC arrear in respect of their property. Given the difficulties in matching the records to 100% accuracy, I would strongly recommend anyone who has paid the HHC or who was exempt from the HHC to do this and if the €200 charge is on record, correct the information before Revenue starts its compliance programme.  Revenue has also confirmed to me that it is still in the process of dealing with the large amount of payments, correspondence and telephone queries received in respect of HHC in the period up to the extended 'compliance' deadline of 2 April 2014. This work will be completed in approximately two weeks at which point Revenue will begin its compliance campaign. I would strongly encourage anyone who owes the HHC to go online and pay the €200 before the compliance campaign begins.

  In regard to the compliance campaign, none of the actions listed in the Deputy's question have yet taken place in relation to the Household Charge.  Revenue has advised that because liable persons did not previously receive any correspondence from the LGMA in respect of amounts outstanding and because Revenue never initiates debt collection/enforcement activity without prior warning, the initial step will be to write to those people that have a HCC charge arrear on the Register. They will be advised of the liability and the steps they should take if they have already paid the amount indicated as due. They will also be advised on the steps to take if they were exempt from the HHC. For those who are taxed through the PAYE system they will also be advised that an instruction will issue to their employer or occupational pension provider to deduct the €200 charge from their wages/pension between May and December of this year. Recipients of the letter will then have a ten-day period to choose an alternative payment method to prevent the instruction issuing to their employer.

  For those whose only income is from the Department of Social Protection and who are likely to qualify for a deferral, they will be offered that opportunity. Revenue will also write to non-PAYE/DSP property owners to provide them with the opportunity to correct the record and to advise them that the charge will be subject to the debt collection and enforcement measures as outlined in the Deputy's question.  Finally, Revenue has assured me that any liable person in respect of HHC who left contact details with the LPT Helpline, or who wrote or emailed and has yet to receive a reply will be considered compliant and will not be subject to either debt collection/enforcement activity or interest charges, providing they meet their obligations immediately after their queries are resolved.