Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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1677. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of sites for which a vacant sites tax or zoned land tax has been applied, and the number of sites for which it has been received, in each of the past five years, in tabular form. [44159/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Local authorities are required to submit an annual return to my Department providing information on the implementation of the Vacant Site Levy under the provisions of the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 in their functional areas. The most recent progress report on the implementation and collection of the Vacant Site Levy by each local authority was collated in mid - 2024. This information is provided in the attached table.

Under the Vacant Site Levy provisions, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties which were listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local authority vacant sites registers from 2019 onwards, which site owners became liable to pay in January of the following year.

The Vacant Site Levy is being replaced by the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), introduced by amendments to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended) made in successive Finance Acts since 2021 when the measure was announced. This tax came into effect for the first time in 2025 and is being administered and collected by the Revenue Commissioners, further to the publication of maps identifying lands in scope by the 31 local authorities.

The Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) legislation does not require the identification of distinct sites by local authorities; rather it requires that all land which is zoned residential, or for a mixture of uses including residential, which is serviced and which does not benefit from an exclusion as set out in the legislation, is to be identified on the draft and final maps. Under the legislation, local authorities are required to publish the total area of land in hectares contained on their maps. Overall, circa 46,300 hectares of land comprising residential and mixed use including residential zonings are identified on the final maps for 2025. This information is broken down by Local Authority in the attached table. It should also be noted however that where land identified on the maps is occupied by properties that are liable to pay the Local Property Tax (LPT), the land in question is not liable to RZLT.

While the 2025 RZLT liability date fell on 1 February last, landowners had until 23 May 2025, being the due date for filing RZLT returns for 2025, to pay the liability, with the exception of where the landowner sells the relevant site between 1 February and 23 May 2025, as where a relevant site is sold, any outstanding RZLT liability must be paid prior to sale. Matters relating to the collection and payment of the tax are a matter for the Department of Finance.

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