LPT, or Local Property Tax, is a self-assessed tax charged on the market value of residential properties in the Irish State.
The first LPT valuation period started on 1 July 2013 and will end on 31 December 2021. The Valuation Date for the next four year, which will determine the amount of LPT you pay for 2022 and for the three years from 2023 to 2025, will be based on your valuation of your property as of 1st November 2021
LPT is a self-assessment tax so you calculate the tax due based on your own assessment of the market value of the property. Revenue does not value properties for LPT purposes but provides guidance on how to value your property.
Revenue will contact you directly this month with information regarding the steps you will need to take. Then, you submit your valuation by 7 November and arrange to pay the tax.
Are you ready for the LPT Valuation Date?
To help you prepare to meet your obligations as a home-owner, here are the steps you should take.
- Determine the value of your property as at 1st November 2021
- Submit this valuation along with an LPT Return to Revenue by 7th November 2021
- Pay or make arrangements to pay your LPT for 2022
LPT Exemptions
Certain properties are exempt from paying LPT. Even if you own an exempt property, you must still value your property and make a Local Property Tax return to claim an exemption.
- Properties unoccupied for an extended period by an ill or infirm liable person
- Properties bought or adapted or built for use by incapacitated persons
- Properties certified as having pyritic damage
- Properties constructed using defective concrete blocks
- Properties fully subject to commercial rates
- Properties used by a charity or a public body providing special needs accommodation
- Properties owned by charities for recreational activities
- North-South implementation bodies
- Registered nursing homes
Who should Pay?
If you are the owner or joint owner of a residential property on November 1st 2021, then you are liable for LPT, even if you do not live at that property. If there is more than one owner, or it is owned by a company or other entity, you need to agree who will pay the tax, otherwise Revenue can collect it from any of the owners.
In some cases, you must pay the LPT if you are not the owner:
- If you are a tenant with a long-term lease of more than 20 years or
- If you have a right to live in the property for life or for more than 20 years or a right to live there ‘to the exclusion of others’
(The landlord pays LPT if a property is rented on a normal short-term lease (less than 20 years).)
How to Value your Property
Standardised guidelines may not reasonably reflect the value of your own property. It is important that you also consider the specifics of your own property. Your property may have certain unique features that you should take into account when determining its value (extensions, additional features etc.)
You should keep a copy of any information sources and supporting documentation that you use to determine the market value of your property. Revenue may request this from you in the event of a review of your self-assessment of your property’s value.
- Interactive Valuation Tool
Revenue have an interactive valuation guide to help you determine the value of your property https://lpt.revenue.ie/lpt-web/valuation-guide/index.htm. The site shows a map, divided into different small areas. (These are areas that have been complied by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis on behalf of Ordinance Survey Ireland in consultation with the Central Statistics Office.) There are approximately 18,600 small areas with usually 50 – 200 properties in each, according to property value. Each area is allocated a colour shade for the valuation band. We found this a little difficult to interpret due to the use of single colour shading and recommend using one of the following as additional guidelines.
Other information sources for valuing your property
You can refer to one or more of these information sources to help you make your self-assessment of your property’s value for Local Property Tax (LPT). They are provided here to assist you but Revenue does not endorse or otherwise validate that these sources are valuations for LPT purposes.
- Residential property price register
The Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) publishes the Residential Property Price Register. This Register holds information on residential properties purchased in Ireland since January 2010.
You can refer to the Register to check the price of properties that have been sold in your area in recent years. You should compare properties on the Register that are similar to your own property, for example, in type, approximate size and approximate age. You should not rely on one particular sale on the Register, for example, the most recent sale in your neighbourhood. You should consider a group of relevant sales over recent periods.
If the property was a new property when it was purchased, the price shown on the Register is exclusive of Value-Added Tax (VAT). If you are referring to the prices of new properties in your area to determine the valuation band of your own property, you should add VAT at 13.5%.
You should keep a note of the properties on the Register that you use to determine the value of your own property.
- Professional valuation
You may choose to ask a professional valuer to value your property.
The professional valuation should reflect the value of your property on 1 November 2021. The documentation that the professional valuer provides should include the:
- type of property
- size of the property
- condition or state of repair of the property.
- Other information sources
You can refer to other available information about properties in your area to help you value your own property. These information sources could include, for example:
●newspapers or other media sources
●information from local estate agents
●commercial property sales websites such as daft.ie, myhome.ie and geowox.com.
You should use information about properties in your area that are similar to your own property, for example, in type, approximate size and approximate age. The information you use should be from recent years to help you value your own property as at 1 November 2021.
Documentation
You should keep a copy of any information sources and supporting documentation that you use to determine the market value of your property. Revenue may request this from you in the event of a review of your self-assessment of your property’s value.
