Dear Chairman Cody

We hope that this letter finds you well. We note the excellent work of Revenue in providing information to the public on Local Property Tax (LPT) compliance obligations for 2022 which includes the requirement for residential property owners to establish the open market value of their properties for LPT purposes on 1 November.

Section 15 of the Local Property Taxes Act 2012 was a helpful provision which offered great clarity to LPT taxpayers as follows:

1. Subject to subsection (2), where a liable person—
   1. makes a self-assessment in a return which is delivered on or before the relevant return date in accordance with guidelines referred to in subsection (3), and
   2. pays the amount of the self-assessment, the Revenue Commissioners shall not seek to displace the self-assessment by the making of a Revenue assessment.
2. Subsection (1) shall not apply in the case of a relevant residential property the chargeable value of which exceeds €1,000,000.
3. The Revenue Commissioners shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, prepare and publish guidelines in relation to the matter of ascertaining the chargeable value of relevant residential properties.

However, section 23 Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2021 deleted section 15 of the Local Property Taxes Act 2012. It is not clear to us why section 15 was deleted given the fact that Government policy states that the majority of LPT taxpayers should not experience an increase in the amount of LPT on valuing their properties on 1 November. Ireland is experiencing a housing shortage crisis and the market value of property has changed considerably since the last LPT valuation date in 2013. These factors make it very difficult for homeowners to establish accurate market values for the purposes of fulfilling their valuation obligations on 1 November. LPT taxpayers depend on Revenue guidelines for the purposes of fulfilling their LPT obligations in 2021 just as much as they depended on Revenue guidelines in 2013.

We ask that Revenue confirms that it will administer LPT on the basis that it will not seek to displace a LPT self-assessment made by a taxpayer based on Revenue guidelines where that taxpayer submits a return and pays LPT on time. Various media articles quote Revenue spokespersons which appear to indicate that the spirit of section 15 continues to apply. However, it would be most helpful if Revenue could formally commit to continue to accept LPT self-assessments on the same terms as section 15. LPT taxpayers are highly compliant and wish to fulfil their LPT obligations safe in the knowledge that they can follow Revenue guidelines without fear of subsequent challenge.

LPT has been in operation for eight years and at this stage, it should be fully integrated into the ROS system. Accountants assisting clients with their LPT obligations currently must submit access requests to the LPT Branch providing written confirmation from the liable person that the accountant represents them for specific properties. This is the process even in cases where the accountant has an agent link already on record with Revenue for the liable person. LPT compliance issues can result in a surcharge for income tax or corporation tax purposes so it is important that the accountant can access a client’s LPT records on ROS in the same manner as other tax heads to ensure they can efficiently assist their clients.

Given the pending deadline for the submission of LPT returns, we would be most grateful if you could confirm Revenue’s approach to LPT self-assessments based on Revenue guidelines in the context of section 15 of the Local Property Taxes Act 2012 at your earliest convenience.

Your sincerely

Peter Vale

Chair of the CCAB-I Tax Committee