Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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52. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the many letters issued by the Revenue Commissioners on 17 April 2014 advising that the household charge would be collected by them through the same mechanism as the local property tax; in view of the fact that these letters were received on 24 April thereby giving persons less than five working days to deal with this if he is satisfied that putting a date on a letter that does not arrive until week later is fair and reasonable; if he will ensure that when the Revenue Commissioners and other organisations issue official letters the date on the letter corresponds to the date of postage as there are no postage date marks on official envelopes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20773/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that it received the Household Charge (HHC) Register from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and this data, along with various other Government and non-Government data sources, was used to develop the Local Property Tax (LPT) Register. Revenue has also confirmed that as a result of a comprehensive data matching exercise across both registers, it has matched 1.27 million properties for which the HHC was paid, to the LPT Register of 1.69 million properties (other than Local Authority/Social Housing). The Deputy will appreciate that it is absolutely essential from a fairness perspective to the vast majority of house owners who paid both the HHC and LPT that Revenue follows through on those who have not.

To ensure that all liable persons meet their HHC obligations, Revenue announced a compliance campaign on 18 February 2014, but in doing so provided a six week window to 31 March to allow people get both their HHC and LPT affairs in order without incurring any additional charges or penalties. This window and the consequences of continued non-compliance were very extensively advertised on both national and local media outlets and I am happy to say that very many people availed of the opportunity to bring their property tax affairs up to date.

Revenue began writing to the remaining property owners who opted not to bring their affairs up to date during the six week window on 17 April. The notification clearly warned of the consequences of continued non-compliance but also outlined the steps that needed to be taken in regard to both payment options and updating the records where no payment was due, thereby preventing any collection/enforcement activity.

In regard to the issue date of the letters, Revenue has confirmed to me that it did in fact process the letters on the specified date/s (17 April) but due to the Easter period An Post was not in a position to make delivery for up to five days in some instances. For that reason Revenue will take a reasonable approach in regard to debt recovery providing the property owner makes contact and commits to dealing with any outstanding issues within an agreed period of time. For the Deputy's information, since the compliance letters started to issue on 17 April Revenue has received almost 40,000 items of correspondence and is handling between 8,000 and 12,000 phone calls each day. Revenue has indicated to me that it will not commence debt recovery activity until the backlog is cleared and while it will not make any further direct contact with non-compliant property owners in advance of debt recovery activity, it will clearly signal its intention in this regard through its regular media updates.   

The Deputy should be aware that to assist compliance, Revenue has developed a new online service that facilitates property owners to make payment, or to indicate that they have already paid or are exempt. This service, which can be accessed by using the Property ID and PIN codes provided on the notification that issued, is available 24 hours a day and is both intuitive and easy to navigate. Revenue has also made its Helpline at 1890 200 255 available on an 8am to 8pm basis for any person who wants to make direct contact rather than using the online system. 

In summary, I am satisfied that Revenue has been very facilitating in its approach to collecting the outstanding arrears of HHC by providing the initial six week window, by developing additional IT support and by providing extended Helpline opening hours. I would recommend that the Deputy outline these provisions to any constituent who may still have outstanding issues in respect of either HHC or LPT and advise that early contact with Revenue will in most instances prevent any stressful and expensive enforcement sanctions.