Written answers

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Non-Principal Private Residence Charge Collection

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1466. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he has raised with local authorities the collection of the non-principal private residence tax; his plans to revise the non-principal private residence tax timeframe of charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34565/14]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the Non-Principal Private Residence Charge. The NPPR Charge, which has since been discontinued, applied in the years 2009 to 2013 to any residential property in which the owner did not reside as their normal place of residence. The NPPR Charge is based on self-declaration and therefore the onus is on the property owner themselves to register their property and make the payment. The 2009 Act places the Charge under the care and management of the local authorities and application in particular circumstances is a matter for the relevant local authority.

Part 12 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 deals with the collection of undischarged liabilities relating to the NPPR charge. The Act provided for a period from 2 March 2014 to 31 August 2014, during which time no new late penalties were applied to existing liabilities. If payment was not made in full or if settlement terms were not agreed by the end of that period, an additional late payment fee of €120 per liability date applied on 1 September 2014. As the Charge applied in each of the years from 2009 to 2013, there were five liability dates – 31 July 2009 and 31 March for each of the years 2010 to 2013. In addition to this late payment fee to be applied per liability date, the entire NPPR liability is then increased by a factor of 50% and frozen. There are no plans to revise this legislation.

Under section 77 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014, my Department issued guidance to local authorities concerning matters relating to arrears of the NPPR charge and late payment fees to ensure that a consistent national approach is adopted. The guidelines encourage local authorities to take a proactive approach to ensure that any outstanding NPPR liabilities are discharged in the most equitable, efficient and economically beneficial manner. It is expected, in the majority of cases, that local authorities will collect the full NPPR charge liability from owners. In some cases, this may be by means of arrangement by instalment. All non-compliant owners should log on to or, alternatively, contact their local authority to discuss any matters they wish to clarify and to make their outstanding payments.

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