Minister Paschal Donohoe has indicated that vacant homes will face a new tax in the next budget. This comes as new figures show that just over 57,000, or 3%, of habitable properties eligible to pay the LPT are vacant.
The Finance Minister said that the purpose of the tax was to maximise the use of existing homes, and not to raise revenue. He intimated that that there would be exemptions for properties which are vacant for legitimate reasons, such as a home that was in probate or one that was “in between” lettings.
Revenue Commissioners statistics show that most vacant properties, around 61%, have been vacant for under a year. Of the owners, 22% attributed this to ongoing refurbishment, while 20% said they were holiday homes.
Currently, the national average is 3.2% of the total property stock, which means that almost one in every 30 properties is unoccupied.
Information in hand by Revenue supplied by home owners on the Local Property Tax Register indicate that as of November 2021, 57,206 properties were vacant. This still has to be verified. The property tax liability for these properties stands at €12.4 million.
A statement by the Department of Finance suggests that the figures will be used to assess the merits and impact of introducing a Vacant Property Tax.
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