Irish residential property owners who have so far failed to pay their 2012 Household Charge or 2013 and 2014 local property tax (LPT), or have undervalued their property or claimed an exemption they were not entitled to, will be given until March 31 2014 to put their affairs into order. After this date, interest will be charged on outstanding LPT (including Household Charge arrears) at a rate of 0.0219 percent per day, from the date the tax was due. The Household Charge and the 2013 LPT were due on July 1, 2013; and the 2014 LPT was due on January 1, 2014. Interest will also apply where additional tax becomes payable in cases where a property was undervalued.

From April 2014, the Irish Revenue will enforce a mandatory deduction of unpaid Household Charge from wages and occupational pensions. The deduction will include interest. Appropriate cases will be selected for debt collection/enforcement action. The 2013 LPT compliance rate currently stands at 93 percent, and EUR242m (USD332.9m) has been transferred to the Exchequer in respect of the half year charge. The 2014 compliance rate is lower, at 82 percent.

The Irish Revenue expects to see an increase in the compliance rate as the remaining 40,000 items of correspondence from late last year are processed. The Exchequer figure – currently EUR110m – will rise incrementally throughout the year, as the various phased payment arrangements kick in and a single debt authority option is implemented. To date, 190,000 reminder letters have been issued, and over 29,000 mandatory deductions from wages/pensions initiated. More than 6,700 income tax surcharges have been applied.