Revenue warns it will pursue anyone evading property tax

Revenue has warned that it will deduct the property tax directly from the salary, pension or bank accounts of evaders who do not co-operate with the taxation authority.

"People can only judge for themselves Revenue's record for pursuing people. We have a very extensive register. We have very extensive data. We will pursue. We've done it in the past," said Revenue chairwoman Josephine Feehily.

Releasing details today of how the new collection system will operate, Ms Feehily acknowledged that correspondence may be sent in error to some individuals - including dead people -  as the organisation writes to the owners of some 1.66 million properties in the next four weeks.

"We are fairly sure we will unfortunately send out letters in error to some people who are deceased, because property transfers have not been completed," she told reporters at a briefing.  "That isn't unusual in rural Ireland.

"If a person gets a letter and they are not the owners, they should contact Revenue immediately to tell us who the owner is so that we can correct the register," she said. "If they don't, we will continue to connect them to that property."

The package sent to most property owners will include a personalised letter, a tax return form and an official guide to the new tax. Revenue will set out in this correspondence an estimate for the tax due to the property in question.

However, this is a general estimate only. The owner can displace the Revenue figure once the estimate self-assessed by the owner is based on an honest and realistic reflection of market value.

Revenue will tell property owners to consult its website – revenue.ie – which will provide access from next weekend to an online valuation guide which maps every area in the State.

The estimates set out in this guide will be set out according to the type of property – whether a detached or semi-detached house or apartment - in each local electoral district and the date of construction.

The indicative valuations set out in this guide based on information gleaned from the stamp duty paid on more than 34,000 property transactions in the past three years and advice from professional valuers and the National Asset Management Agency.

However, Revenue said it is open to owners to extract information on values from the new property price register – propertypriceregister.ie – or from local estate agents and newspapers or property websites.

"In all cases, valuation remains the responsibility of the property owner," Ms Feehily said. "If you don't send in a return, Revenue will pursue collection of the [Revenue] estimate."

The deadline for sending paper returns to Revenue is May 7th and the deadline for filing online is May 28th.

Owners can opt to pay the tax in full directly via a single debit on July 21st. The tax can also be paid directly from salaries or occupational pensions. A further option is deduction at source from welfare or agricultural payments.

Owners can make direct debits from July 15th or they can pay online by debit or credit card. Cash payments over the counter and debit and credit card payments will be possible with An Post, Payzone and Omnivend.