Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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306. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on all methods being used to determine the value of property for local property tax; if these methods include a website (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28933/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that Local Property Tax (LPT) is a self-assessed tax and it is a matter for property owners to calculate the tax due based on their estimate of the market value of the property on the relevant valuation date, as required by Section 13 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended).

The current valuation date is 1 May 2013 and any valuation declared on that date is valid until 31 October 2016 (valuation period). The valuation is not affected by any repairs or improvements made to a property or by any general increase or decrease in property prices that might occur over the course of the valuation period.

The compliance programme involves a number of different strands, including monitoring property sales through a clearance system that compares selling prices against valuations declared by the property owner on the Valuation Date. The programme also includes an online facility that allows property owners to upwardly revalue their original Valuation Band having reconsidered their original valuation as too low and pay any outstanding balance. To date over 8,000 property owners have used this facility to put their LPT affairs in order

The final strand of the programme involves monitoring the Register for properties that seem out of line with other comparable properties ('outliers'). To support this element of the programme, Revenue have developed a very sophisticated data analysis reporting tool that compares LPT Returns for properties within a geographic area. The system in effect allows Revenue staff to identify individual properties where the value returned is much lower than the average for its neighbours. LPT information available to Revenue is also linked to publicly available information such as 'Google Maps' and 'Google Instant Streetview', to further assist staff in profiling potentially non-compliant valuations.

As is the case with any tax liability, Revenue may contact the taxpayer for validation of the original valuation. If the property does not produce the required validation or if the information provided does not support the self assessed valuation, then Revenue may assess and revise the liability as appropriate. Any assessment can be appealed by the property owner to the Appeal Commissioners as provided for by Section 59 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended).

Now that LPT has settled down and is for the most part 'mainstreamed' into normal tax collection operations, Revenue is focussing on compliance activity and on ensuring that all property owners pay the correct amount of LPT. I would urge any property owners that may have significantly under-declared the value of their properties on the 1 May 2013 valuation date to immediately rectify the situation.

Finally, I am aware that Revenue has published very helpful valuation guidance on the LPT portal of its website at .