Property tax deadline extended until 8pm today due to late surge in registrations

The Revenue Commissioners last night extended the deadline for property tax registrations until 8pm today following a last-minute surge in registrations.

Online registrations were running at 10,000 per hour to Revenue’s website while a further 8,000 registered by phone yesterday.

There is now an expectation in Government that the tax will generate €250 million in revenue, the target for this year.

Revenue described yesterday’s rush as an “unprecedented volume” of notifications. “The Revenue Commissioners are very happy with the level of engagement from the public – it is a testament to the strong voluntary compliance culture of the people of Ireland.”

At 5.30pm, with less than seven hours to go before the original midnight deadline, 1.45 million property owners had completed their self-assessment.

High compliance rate
This pointed to a registration rate in excess of 87 per cent of the 1.66 million notifications the Revenue sent out in March and indicates the tax authority has already met its own targets.

Revenue chairwoman Josephine Feehily said at the outset that she would be very disappointed if a compliance level "several percentage points north of 80 per cent" was not reached by the end of the year.

Some 120,000 property owners registered online between midnight and teatime yesterday, following 180,000 registrations on Monday and 100,000 over the weekend.

The Revenue helpline was open until midnight last night. Some 30,000 calls were received by teatime yesterday, bringing the total number since the line opened to 450,000. The Revenue helpline is 1890-200255. The local property tax website is at revenue.ie

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the collections, noting the high rate of compliance. The tax itself falls due in July, meaning property owners must pay a six-month liability this year.

On target
Revenue has said it would not be collating the total tax liability declared by taxpayers until after last night's deadline passed but Ministers believe the collection target will be achieved. "The Government is confident of meeting all its targets," said the Taoiseach's spokesman.

Ms Feehily is likely to be asked about the tax when she appears before the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform this afternoon.

Revenue’s spokeswoman said it would write next month to property owners who had not registered, informing them of its intention to make mandatory deductions from salaries, pensions or other Government payments.

The Revenue will begin an assessment of “outlying” returns in October to track down owners who deliberately understate the value of their property.