Revenue demands Property Tax from 5 year old

RETURN TO SENDER? Five-year-old Cian Parsons received a Property Tax bill.

Revenue demands Property Tax from 5 year old

Ciara Galvin

From July 1, 2013, those who own a property must pay a property tax on the home according to its market value. For five-year-old Cian Parsons and his family, the arrival of the brown envelope from the Revenue Commissioner last Tuesday raised a few eyebrows in relation to the Commission’s system for collecting the tax.
The letter demanded the junior-infant pupil in St Joseph’s NS, Ballinrobe, pay €112 on a property in Tralee, Co Kerry – 152 miles from where he lives with his mother, Liz Parsons, in Ballinrobe.
Speaking to The Mayo News, Liz said her mother, Ann Reid, opened the letter knowing that it had to be a mistake. On 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
On the Revenue website, persons who are expected to pay the Local Property Tax (LPT) are known as ‘liable persons’.
The website states those who are liable include owners of Irish residential property, regardless of whether they live in Ireland or not, local authorities or social housing organisations that own and provide social housing, and lessees who hold long-term leases of residential property. The website fails to outline instances of very young property tycoons such as Cian.
“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.
In light of this, college students Tim Feehan from Cork and Emma Timmins from Dublin could be pursued for the charge, as they told the Irish Independent that they will not be advising the Commission of their letters of error because they did not want to ‘snitch’ on their parents.
As for Cian, until Revenue acknowledges receipt of a denial of ownership of the Kerry property, it seems the five year old better not fritter away his pocket money. The Government might be coming after it.