Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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237. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of local property tax, LPT, liability that has been deferred by liable persons in line with the legislation to date; the number of persons who have availed of this deferral method; the amount of interest that has accrued to date in respect of LPT deferred; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1686/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) provides for a deferral or partial deferral (50%) of LPT where certain specified circumstances exist. These circumstances include ‘Income Level’, ‘Hardship’, ‘Personal Insolvency’ and ‘Personal Representative of a Deceased Person’.

Once granted, a deferral normally remains in place for the duration of the ‘valuation period’, which is currently 1 May 2013 to 31 October 2019. However property owners can opt to pay the outstanding liability at any time and discontinue with the deferral. Where a deferral is in place, the outstanding liability remains as a charge on the property and must be paid before a sale or transfer can be completed. Interest is also charged on the deferred amount at a rate of 4% per annum.

Revenue has confirmed that there are currently almost 62,000 properties with LPT deferrals in place amounting to €61.7m (for all years from 2013 to 2017 inclusive). The accumulated interest to date is in the order of €6m.