A five year old boy is amongst those to have received a letter from the Revenue Commissioners demanding the new property tax.
Cian Parsons from Ballinrobe in Co Mayo received the letter last Tuesday. It demanded that the junior-infant pupil pay €112 on a property in Tralee, Co Kerry – 152 miles from his home.
Speaking to the Mayo News, his mother Liz Parsons said that her mother Ann Reid opened the letter knowing that it had to be a mistake.
In showing the letter to Cian, he recognised his name and recognised the brown envelope as being a bill. The five year old started laughing when he was told he owned a house.
“He recognised his name but wasn’t all that interested in it, but he did find it funny that he owned a house. A few days later he said he was excited about owning one and that maybe they [the Government] would build him a house by the sea if he asked nicely,” explained Ms Parsons.
“He has been through Kerry, on our way to Cork, but never visited Tralee. He could be a property tycoon on the sly but I don’t think he gets enough pocket money to build up a property portfolio,” his mother joked.
With Cian more used to receiving birthday cards than official documents, his grandmother wrote on the incorrect letter that Cian was five years old, had never been to Tralee and ‘please return to sender, unknown person and property’.
When contacted by The Mayo News, the Revenue Commission stated as there was no complete register of residential properties in Ireland, and that Revenue compiled the register from various sources, meaning there would be some errors in records and a ‘very small minority’ of individuals would receive a letter in error.
Josephine Feehily, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, said instances where errors may occur include those where a son or daughter paid the household charge for a parent and the household charge system connected the property to the payer rather than the owner.
Ms Feehily also highlighted situations in which a property owner has died and the property transfer to the new owner has not been finalised, or where a landlord of a rented property has not registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board.
The Commission stated that if a person does not submit a return, or contact Revenue to explain why they are not the liable person, then Revenue will collect the Revenue Estimate from the person.
The new tax will come into force in July with the Revenue Commissioners having sent out notices about it to over 1 million households as of last week.
