Reprieve as property tax deadline extended until Wednesday

A deadline for homeowners who have yet to pay their local property tax (LPT) or household charge and avoid any interest or penalties has been extended.

The deadline was planned for midnight tonight, however the Revenue Commissioners announced today it has been extended until 5pm on Wednesday.

After that, the Revenue Commissioners will launch a nationwide compliance programme and will charge interest at a rate of 0.0219 per cent per day (or 8 per cent a year) from the date the tax was due – July 1st, 2013, in respect of 2013 LPT and the household charge; and January 1st, 2014, in respect of 2014 LPT.

If you have knowingly undervalued your property, you may also be liable to interest on the additional tax owed. Over 1,400 people have already self-corrected their valuation since November.

According to the Revenue, the compliance rate for 2014 stood at about 82 per cent in mid-February.

“Unpaid LPT and interest will be a charge on a property and will cause difficulties for any transfer of ownership on sale, inheritance, etc,” the Revenue warned.

With regards to last year’s tax, which applied on a half-year basis, a compliance rate of about 93 per cent was reported, generating a total of €242 million for the Government.

To address those who did not pay, the Revenue sent out 190,000 reminder letters, initiated over 29,000 mandatory deductions from wages/pensions, refused about 3,500 tax clearances and applied an income tax surcharge in over 6,700 cases.

If you have not yet paid LPT, you can contact Revenue at 1890 200 255 until Wednesday evening to arrange to do so. If you undervalued your property, you can self-correct this valuation and pay the additional liability today using its online service.

“Failure to self-correct an understated valuation will lead to difficulties in the context of property sales,” the Revenue said.