Property tax won't be set by new price register

THE EAGERLY anticipated property price register will not be used as a valuation tool for the forthcoming property tax, the Department of Justice has said.

The register, which is due to go online at the end of this month, has been long-awaited as the first transparent measure of house prices in the Republic.

A statement from the department ruled out the possibility that the register will be used to estimate the value of homes after the Government confirmed last week it will introduce a value-based property tax.

“It should be emphasised that this is not a property price index and will not form the basis for the valuation of any property tax,” it stated.

A department spokesman said that the basis on which valuations will be made will be a matter for the Revenue Commissioners.

A spokeswoman for the Revenue Commissioners said they were working on options and it would be “inappropriate for us to comment any further at this stage”.

She added: “The Government decision that Revenue will administer this new tax has been made and we are planning for its introduction.

“We understand that the Government will consider the policy matters in the coming weeks.”

The property price register will be published by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) based in Navan, Co Meath, and will be available on the authority's website ( npsra.ie).

The information will include the address of the property, the price that was paid for it and the date it was sold, going back two years.

The Department of Justice has said the property register will be live “in the coming weeks” but has declined to give a date.

Nobody from the PSRA was available for comment, but in an interview in July, the PSRA’s chief executive Tom Lynch said the register “will be up by the end of September”.

The authority is also responsible for the licensing of property service providers, and will investigate and adjudicate on complaints to the authority.