Second homeowners must pay €200 tax again by end of May – or face penalties
THE €200 second home tax introduced in last April’s mini-Budget could raise another €20 million for the country’s local authorities, bringing the total raised to close to €80 million, nearly double the original €40 million expected.
This is if estimates that up to 100,000 second homes have not yet been declared are correct.
Hubert Kearns, chairman of the project group which oversaw the collection of the tax on behalf of the country’s local authorities, said yesterday that it is putting in place a series of measures to identify such properties, following which second homeowners who have not yet declared their properties will be targeted for payment.
He said the figure of 100,0000 was based on CSO figures on numbers of vacant properties.
Taxes collected so far show that 100,000 people own one second home, either a rental property or holiday home; 35,000 own three to 10 properties, 1,000 between 11 and 20, 100 between 31 and 40, 50 between 41 and 50, 70 between 51 and 100, 15 between 100 and 200 and one company or individual owns more than 200 homes.
The 285,000 compliant second homeowners who have already paid the self-assessed non-principal private residence (NPPR) tax will have to pay it again within months, with the 2010 tax due from the end of March. They have up to the end of May before late payment charges will be due.
The deadline for payment of the tax in 2009 was October 31st.By the end of December 2009, the €200 tax had already raised €57.4 million, almost 50 per cent more than expected. By now, 285,000 second homes, rather than the expected 200,000, have been declared.
Mr Kearns, who is Sligo’s County Manager, says that the project group intends to identify undeclared second homes. (The group operates under the aegis of the Office for Local Authority Management (OLAM), which does work on behalf of the county’s local authorities.) The group shares information – permitted under data protection laws – with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), with the Revenue Commissioners and is authorised to get information from bodies like the ESB. Local authorities also have “local intelligence” about holiday homes in their areas, he said.
Second homeowners who do not pay the tax are subject to a €20 a month late payment charge and ultimately to prosecution for non-payment. Another deterrent to non-declaration is the possibility of having to pay back taxes and penalties when selling a second property: unpaid taxes could be a conveyancing problem, says Mr Kearns.
The taxes are paid to local authorities: so far Dublin City Council has received the most, at €10.25 million, Monaghan County Council the least, at €382,800.
- www.nppr.ie
