Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding payment of the household charge of €100 that was introduced prior to the local property tax where an elderly person did not receive any information or documentation on this matter and the amount still remains outstanding; the balance due on a single house in this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29536/16]

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Finance the position relating to an elderly person in their late 80s who never received any communication regarding local property tax and has not paid this and any amount due based on the minimum value of the house; the arrangements which can be put in place due to the fact that it has not yet been paid or the person has not been contacted on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29542/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 84 together.

Local Property Tax (LPT) is a self-assessed tax, which places the onus on the taxpayer to comply with statutory obligations even in circumstances where there has been no contact from Revenue.

Section 156 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 converted any arrears of Household Charge (HHC) that were still outstanding on 1 July 2013 to a Local Property Tax (LPT) liability of €200 per property, and made Revenue responsible for collecting the increased amounts.

To facilitate the commencement of LPT, Revenue developed the first ever Register of residential properties in the State. The Register was developed using data drawn from a range of sources including Revenue's own databases, the Local Government Management Agency database and various other sources. Given the scale of the task it was inevitable that there would be some level of error and Revenue consistently advised property owners to make contact if for example, an LPT Return was received in error or if an expected notification was not received.  

In regard to the case/s mentioned by the Deputy, it is not possible without more specific information to determine the exact reason as to why the person/s did not receive any notifications from Revenue in respect of either LPT or HHC. However it may be that the person/s details were inadvertently excluded from the Register, possibly due to data matching errors, which would prevent the issuing of the various notifications. However the non-issuing of the notifications does not mean the liability is not correctly due nor does it prevent the unpaid liability attaching as a charge on the property.

To bring matters up to date the Deputy should advise the person/s to make immediate contact with Revenue at direct dial telephone number 065-6849081. Revenue will be happy to assist the person/s in any way possible including in regard to the various phased payment options that exist or possibly in regard to deferring the liability, depending on the exact circumstances of the case/s.