Property tax €3.6m error blamed on rushed law

The “farcical” way the local property tax was passed through the Oireachtas has been blamed for a blunder that will see Revenue having to repay €3.6m to 6,000 homeowners.

Revenue will begin the process of matching payment records to stamp duty returns in an effort to identify home buyers who paid the tax but were not obliged to under the exact wording of the legislation.

It said in a statement at the weekend that a clause in the legislation was originally intended to give an exemption until 2016 to first-time buyers who purchased a second-hand home up to Dec 31 this year.