The Revenue Commissioners has issued 714,470 local property tax letters to households so far.
In a statement at the weekend, it said that it had received 5,567 electronic returns from property owners and a further 1,436 returns on paper.
There have been 11,687 calls to its helpline with Revenue clarifying in response to a large number of queries that it had no role in relation to designating which properties are exempt from the tax because they are located in unfinished housing estates.
There have been over 688,500 hits on the valuation guidance website since it went live over a week ago. Revenue did not specify if ‘hits’ referred to page views or unique visitors.
Revenue also said in a statement that its estimate in the letters it is sending to homeowners is only relevant where a person does not complete and file their return.
“You don’t appeal the Revenue Estimate – you simply displace it by completing the return with your own estimate,” a statement said.
“This means that you self-assess the value of your property, complete the return, select a payment option and send it to Revenue. There is nothing to appeal.”
It also said that people should not ignore the letter as it will pursue collection of the estimate and has recommended that homeowners consult with its valuation guidance as well as guides available on the likes of MyHome.ie.
“All you have to do is engage honestly and reasonably with the self assessment process,” the statement said.
Last week it was revealed around 5,100 households are exempt from the Local Property Tax under details of a waiver released by the Department of the Environment.
Of the country’s 1,770 unfinished ghost estates, 421 will be exempt from the new tax.
In contrast, 1,322 such estates, containing around 43,000 households, were exempt under the Household Charge waiver list.
The list of exemptions can be found here.
