Almost one in four households has failed to file a required local property tax return despite the Revenue Commissioners extending the deadline.
Revenue sought updated valuation details on 2.1 million homes around the State to determine the local property tax bills that will be payable from January. However, when the extended deadline for returns expired at 5:30pm on Wednesday, just 1.6 million return had been filed.
More than 100,000 property owners submitted their local property tax (LPT) returns since a deadline extension was announced last week, but 500,000 homeowners have failed to do so.
Despite the shortfall, a spokeswoman for the Revenue said there had been “a significant increase in timely filing compared to the last revaluation in 2021″.
And she said that of those who have yet to update the value of their home, about 330,000 have either paid for 2026 or put a payment arrangement in place, most by direct debit.
However, the Revenue spokeswoman stressed that, even if they have paid, property owners still need to file a local property tax reutrn to confirm the correct valuation band of their property.
[ How truthful are we when valuing our property for this tax?Opens in new window ]
Revenue said it was working through around 100,000 pieces of correspondence including postal queries and paper returns. It added that anyone with a query yet to be answered would be deemed compliant if they file their return promptly upon receiving a response.
A spokesman for Revenue said its helpline had handled 7,000 calls a day over the past week.
The fresh valuations, which set out the properties’ worth as of Saturday, November 1st, will determine the amount of local property tax households will pay each year between 2026 and the end of 2030.
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Anyone who has not filed ahead in a timely fashion risks being pursued and they could face financial penalties for late returns.
Until Revenue gets a valuation from a homeowner, it will work off the estimate, but it will “continue to seek submission of your LPT return and confirmation from you of your property valuation”.
It has made it clear that “regardless of whether you accept the estimate, or you determine that it should change based on your own self-assessed valuation of your property, you are required to submit an LPT return”.
[ Local property tax: How does it work and what happens if you miss the deadline?Opens in new window ]
According to the latest figures released just hours before the deadline, more than 1.5 million homeowners, including councils on behalf of council properties, have filed updated details.
The tax is due on more than 2.2 million properties, although as some people will be paying tax on multiple properties, the number liable to pay is much closer to the 1.5 million that has already been reached.
The tax bill will range from €95 for those in the lowest band to €3,110 for homes worth between €1.995 million and €2.1 million.
If your home is worth more than €2.1 million, you’ll pay 0.3 per cent of any value above that level.
For most people, an increase in the value of their properties since the last revaluation date in 2021 means they will face only a modest increase in the charge.
Wider valuation bands and a tax “rate” that is now just half what it was up to 2022 mean there are unlikely to be any significant surprises for homeowners, despite a near 30 per cent average climb in the cost of homes since the last revaluation took place in 2021.