Fewer than half of property owners have filed LPT return

Fewer than half of property owners have filed a local property tax (LPT) return ahead of the deadline on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the Revenue Commissioners said that, as of 8pm on Monday, returns for just over 765,000 properties had been filed, representing around 43 per cent of the expected number of properties liable for the tax next year.

She said the figure represented an increase of almost 15 per cent since Thursday. “We expect the volume of LPT returns submissions will continue to increase over the coming days in advance of the return filing deadline of November 7th,” she said.

Separately, Revenue has extended the opening hours of its dedicated helpline for local property tax issues after a “surge” in the level of calls it is receiving.

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Surge

On Monday, the Revenue reported that there has been a “further surge in the level of calls made” to the helpline in recent days, with the number of daily calls “well exceeding” 12,000.

There was also high levels of demand for the helpline outside its operating hours, with around 1,600 property owners attempting to call in advance of its opening hours over the past number of days.

In light of this, Revenue has announced that the opening hours will be extended from 8am to 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Further extended opening hours “will be considered” later this week should the level of demand remain high.

Revenue explained that mornings are the busiest time for calls coming through to its helpline. It advised that property owners having difficulties getting through in the morning should try again later in the day if they can.

Additionally, Revenue provided advice covering the top three topics on which homeowners are contacting the helpline.

1. Absence of LPT letter

“Property owners who have not received a hard-copy letter about their LPT in the post may have received notification into their My Documents folder in myAccount or into their ROS Inbox.

“However, the information in the letter is also available on the property owner’s LPT record and can be viewed when property owners are submitting their LPT Return in myAccount, ROS or the LPT Online Portal.”

You do not need a copy of the letter to file a return.

2. Unregistered properties

“If a property is not currently registered with Revenue for LPT, property owners can register it themselves by clicking on the Register New Property link on the Property Services Card in myAccount or in the Other Services section on the ROS homepage.”

3. Valuation bands

“There is no requirement to contact Revenue where property owners determine that their property falls into a different valuation band than the valuation band indicated on Revenue’s online valuation guide or the valuation band used for the purposes of their notice of LPT estimate.

“Property owners should select the relevant valuation band that applies to the property’s market value, as determined by the property owner, when submitting their LPT return.”