by Jackie Buckley September-21-2020 in Property
In June 2019, we advised you of the fact that the valuation date for Local Property Tax (LPT) had been deferred to 1st November 2020. Minister Donohue has now announced the deferral of the revaluation date for LPT to 1st November 2021, which will no doubt be welcomed by all homeowners.
Currently, LPT liability is calculated by reference to the value of a property as of 1st May 2013 which was the original valuation date. The higher the valuation of the property at the original valuation date, the higher the LPT bill is every year.
The valuation date was due to be updated on 1 November 2016, 1 November 2019 and more recently 1 November 2020. Even with the uncertainty caused by the last few months, many homeowners were still potentially facing a substantially increased LPT bill. In recent days, we have also seen that some local authorities who have given a discount of 15% on Local Property Tax bills in their areas, will not be doing so this year.
The deferral of the valuation date will be given effect by a Ministerial Order under the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, as amended. In addition, the Minister will put forward legislative proposals early in 2021 to implement the commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to LPT. The Minister said that he “will be bringing forward proposals for primary legislation to implement the Programme for Government commitments on LPT in early 2021. These proposals will be designed to ensure fairness and that most homeowners will face no increase in their LPT liabilities. They will also bring new homes, which are currently exempt from the LPT or outside of the tax, into the taxation system. I will also seek to promote the other policy objectives that I consider should underpin the tax i.e. protecting the overall LPT yield; maintaining the tax base with a small number of exemptions and upholding the progressivity of the tax”.
As stated above, for homeowners and particularly those who are currently exempt from having to pay LPT, this is good news and gives relief for at least another year.
For further information on LPT issues, please contact Jackie Buckley (jbuckley@hayes-solicitors.ie) at Hayes Solicitors.
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About the Author
Jackie Buckley
Jackie is Head of the Property team at Hayes solicitors. She is a highly experienced adviser to clients in the banking, public and retail sectors on all aspects of the sale, purchase, leasing, development and financing of properties. She has extensive experience of advising landlords and tenants in insolvency situations and has advised in recent high profile examinerships.