Deadline for property tax extended to tomorrow after surge of calls to helpline

The deadline for the payment of property tax and outstanding household charges has been extended until Wednesday, following a surge of calls to the Revenue helpline and online payment system.

The announcement came as a protest was held against the tax outside the Revenue office on Cathedral St, off O’Connell St, in Dublin.

The compliance rate for local property tax (LPT) now stands at 93% for 2013 and 88% for 2014. A statement from Revenue said that it had received about 10,000 calls to the LPT helpline yesterday morning, a huge proportion of which related Household Charge arrears.

“Property owners seem now to be acting on the fact that the Household Charge, which was initially €100 and increased to €200 last July, will only increase further to €213 by the end of April if it is ignored,” said Revenue.

“Given the significant number of property owners who have not complied with the 2012 Household Charge and the volume of calls received this morning, the Revenue Commissioners have decided to extend the deadline until close of business Wednesday evening.”

Revenue chairman Josephine Feehily said she was happy with the 2013 and 2014 local property tax compliance rates but there remains a significant number of property owners who have not paid Household Charge arrears.

“We’ve had a surge in calls in relation to the Household Charge this morning so we decided to extend the deadline until Wednesday evening to allow these people to comply,” said Ms Feehily.

“I’d particularly like to urge those with 2012 Household Charge arrears to use this opportunity to avoid any further increases in the charge.”

In recent days, Ms Feehily warned that household who persisted in non-payment of property tax or household charge would be pursued vigorously.

“We will be starting to send enforcement letters around Easter,” said Ms Feehily, as there are still 100,000 properties not registered for payment.

“It is not going to go away,” she said. “It is important because, in order to gift, bequeath or sell a home, property tax has to be brought up to date. In the meantime, the tax is growing and attracting an interest rate of 8% a year.”

Ms Feehily also warned those who undervalued their homes in order to attract a lower rate would be pursued and Revenue was using modern technology to spy on properties.

“We have a line of sight and we can see people who undervalued their houses by several bands.

“It shows up on our computers. Using technology and Google maps and street view, we can see the property,” she said, adding genuine reasons for apparent undervaluing would be taken into account.