John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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204. To ask the Minister for Finance if the local property tax account in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny will be adjusted to reflect the fact that they are the owner of one property; the reason the amount is being deducted from them and the purpose of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45307/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that there have been ongoing discussions with the person in question in respect of arrears of Household Charge (HHC) and more recently in respect of Local Property Tax (LPT).

In regard to HHC, the Deputy will be aware that Section 156 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act (as amended) increased any outstanding liabilities on 1 July 2013 to €200 and transferred responsibility for collection of the arrears from the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to Revenue. As part of the handover process, the LGMA provided Revenue with a list of property owners who had not paid the charge up to that point.

In April 2014 Revenue wrote to the property owners included on the LGMA list requesting payment of the outstanding liabilities and warning of debt collection/enforcement action, including mandatory deduction from salaries and pensions, in circumstances of continued non-compliance. 

On foot of receiving such a letter, the person in question contacted Revenue and contended that he had already paid his HHC liability to the LGMA. It was agreed that the person would supply copies of receipts to Revenue confirming payment and that the LPT team would adjust the record once the information was received. However, no such confirmation was received and Revenue was left with no alternative but to start mandatory deduction at source from the person's salary to secure the outstanding debt.

In regard to LPT, the person in question has recently claimed that one of his two properties is uninhabitable and that he should not have paid LPT on that particular property for either 2013 or 2014. During the recent discussions on the issues, the LPT team explained that Revenue has no discretion to amend a 'self-assessed' valuation of any property without supporting documentation outlining the reasons why the property is uninhabitable and confirming the date that the property fell into its current state of disrepair.

To bring matters to a conclusion the person has committed to providing the necessary documentation to Revenue as quickly as possible. To expedite this process the LPT team has provided a direct contact to the person.