The Revenue Commissioners have launched a new online tool to help homeowners determine the value of their property, ahead of the next valuation date for Local Property Tax on November 1st
Under changes announced by the Government back in June, all properties will need to be revalued every four years.
The amount of Local Property Tax you pay will depend on the value of your property and the band it falls under.
As the tax is self-assessed, homeowners are responsible for working out the value of their property.
To help with this, Revenue has launched an interactive valuation tool, which is available on the 'online services' section of the Revenue website.
How does this new tool work?
Revenue has divided the country up into 18,000 small areas, which have between 50-200 properties in them.
Homeowners can enter their Eircode or address to find their small area and see what the average property value in the area is, and what valuation band most fall into.
Revenue, said the tool should only be used as a guide, and urged homeowners to also use other sources such as the Property Price Register and figures from the Central Statistics Office during the valuation process.
"What we are trying to do is bring out valuation guidance," said Keith Walsh, Head of Statistics and Economic Research at Revenue.
Mr Walsh pointed out that Revenue does not know the price of every property in the country, but it does know the values that were returned in 2013 - the last time property valuations took place for the LPT.
"What we have done is a big data exercise to take the valuations that were returned in 2013 and roll those forward to an approximation of 2021 prices," he said.
"We have done that roll forward with some data from our own stamp duty systems, data from the Central Statistics Office on property price trends over the period and then we have pulled in some other sources too."
How many valuation bands are there?
In total, there are 20 valuation bands, which the Government has widened out since 2013.
According to Revenue, the average property value falls into band 2.
That is for properties valued at between €200,000 - €262,500.
Homeowners in that band can expect a bill of €225.
Will my LPT bill increase?
Revenue said less than 10% of homeowners will see a change in their bills as a result of the revaluation.
Mr Walsh said that while most property value has increased since 2013, the majority of homeowners will remain in the same valuation band and will pay the same amount in their annual bill.
What has changed since the last valuations for LPT took place?
The last valuations for the Local Property Tax were carried out in 2013.
New homes built since then have been exempt from the charge.
However, the changes announced by the Government this summer will bring around 100,000 new homes which have been built over the past eight years into the property tax net.
What happens if I don't pay up?
Revenue said the compliance rate with the Local Property tax is 97% - and it expects that will remain unchanged.
Katie Clair, Principal Officer in Revenue's Local Property Tax Branch said they will continue to run their compliance campaign.
"If you don't submit your LPT return and you don't value your property, we will use the valuation tool to estimate your LPT charge - and it is that charge that will be associated with the property
If you fail to comply, Ms Clair said that Revenue have a "wide range" of options to ensure that the liability is satisfied.
"That might include the rescinding of tax clearance, it might include mandatory reduction at source or offsetting the liability with available credits," she said.
Further details on the Local Property Tax can be found here.
