Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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402. To ask the Minister for Finance the current number of staff responsible for the collection of the vacant homes tax by grade level and the overall wage cost for the unit. [29529/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that is operates an integrated tax and customs administration and the costs of administering a single tax cannot be quantified.

I am further advised that VHT is administered in the same operational branch as Local Property Tax (LPT) and all staff operating in that branch are equipped to deal with both LPT and VHT. The work of the branch includes supporting taxpayers in meeting their compliance obligations and conducting compliance campaigns to ensure that taxpayers have complied with their return and payment obligations. There are 275 staff across all grades assigned to the LPT branch and this number is supplemented at peaks times, VHT first filing period and LPT revaluation, and from other Revenue branches. The maximum number assigned to the branch during these peak periods is 400.

VHT was introduced by Section 96 of the Finance Act 2022. Revenue Legislation Services (RLS) staff drafted the relevant legislative amendments and published timely guidance to support taxpayers in understanding their obligations under this newly introduced tax.

Revenue has a suite of Integrated Tax and Customs ICT systems which enable the efficient and effective collection of taxes and duties. These systems were updated to allow for the administration of VHT. The initial development of the ICT system to implement VHT cost in the region of €1 million. These systems are maintained and enhanced as required by Revenue’s ICT staff to give effect to budget changes and ensure underlying technology is up to date.

Finally, Revenue’s Strategy Evaluation and Research Branch publish regular statistical updates on all taxes, including VHT and support the Department of Finance in policy evaluation and budgeting through the provision of statistical analysis of Revenue data.