It’s that time of the year again when you need to start thinking about how you will pay your local property tax bill for 2017.

The 2017 liability date for LPT was November 1st 2016.  If you owned a residential property on that date, then you will be liable for the Property Tax on it for the whole of 2017.

The Revenue are writing to approximately 755,000 residential property owners looking for confirmation from them as to how and when they want to pay next years’ liability. They are not writing to those who have already opted to pay via deductions through pay/pension or from a social welfare payment and if you are one of these people (640,000 pay the LPT via this method), you do not need to contact Revenue as your payment method will automatically roll over into 2017.

The people who have received a letter from Revenue are those who paid their LPT in one lump sum (i.e. by single debit authority, debit or credit card, cash, cheque or postal order) of those who made regular payments by cash.

So, what do you need to do if and when you receive a letter from Revenue asking you to confirm your payment arrangements for 2017?

• If you would now like to change your payment method for 2017, and pay by way of a phased or regular payments i.e. direct debit, deduction from salary or regular payments through a service provider (An Post, Omnivend, Payzone or PayPoint), you need to confirm same to Revenue by the 25^th November 2016. If you are paying by direct debit, payments will start on the 15^th January and will be debit from your account on the 15^th of each month thereafter.
• If you would like to pay in full with a single payment in cash, cheque, postal order or by debit or credit card, you will need to confirm your payment method again for 2017. And you must pay the LPT by close of business on the 11^th January 2017.
• If you wish to pay in full by a single debit authority, you must notify Revenue by the 11^th January as well but they will not debit your account until the 21^st March 2017 unless you instructed them to take it earlier

A payment instruction form (LPT1) will be included in some letters sent to people (Revenue estimate c. 150,000 will receive this form) who filed their return last year by paper and this form needs to be completed and returned to them. If you do not receive any form, then you will be expected to confirm your payment method for 2016 on-line. 

The easiest way to confirm and view how you already pay the LPT is by accessing your LPT record on line (https://lpt.revenue.ie/lpt-web/views/login.html) and there are easy step by step instructions on how to choose and confirm your payment method for 2017. You can also call the LPT hotline if you have any other queries at 1890 200 255.

Don’t forget the deadline for confirmation of what method you wish to pay by in 2017 is the 25^th November 2015.