18,856 home owners pay LPT for first time in 2022 – Revenue
Revenue has today published its annual report for 2022, which it said reflected a year of strong performance with a record amount of tax and duty collected during the year.
The 2022 publication is Revenue’s 100th annual report.
Revenue collected total gross receipts of almost €118 billion last year, including €22 billion in non-Exchequer receipts collected on behalf of other government departments, agencies and EU member states.
Net Exchequer receipts of €82.4 billion were up by 22% on 2021.
It said that despite the challenging business environment, overall timely compliance rates remained strong across all taxes for 2022.
“This reflects the positive engagement by businesses, individual taxpayers and tax practitioners with tax compliance obligations and with Revenue during the year and the importance that society generally places on a strong culture of voluntary compliance,” Revenue Chairman Niall Cody said.
Today’s annual report shows that Local Property Tax (LPT) return compliance rate currently stands at 94%, while the payment compliance rate is 97%.
Revenue said this shows the “very positive engagement” by property owners with their LPT compliance obligations.
Revenue said it saw high levels of activity during the year as property owners, including 18,856 owners of newly liable properties which came within the annual charge to LPT for the first time, engage with it to confirm ownership and set up payment arrangements ahead of the payment dates throughout the year.
It noted that during 2022, over 450,000 phone calls were made to Revenue’s LPT Helpline and almost 210,000 items of correspondence were received.
In its annual report, Revenue said that the economic and social disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic continued into 2022 and were further compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and Covid Restriction Support Scheme (CRSS) were wound up in Spring 2022.
Revenue said that during the period from March 2020 to May 2022 it provided critical support to businesses and employees, on behalf of the Government, of just over €10 billion.
“This was unprecedented activity for Revenue and involved innovation, agility and a huge level of commitment. We are really proud of our response to a national emergency,” Chairman Niall Cody said.
It said that to safeguard the integrity of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and EWSS, Revenue completed a programme of eligibility and compliance checks on those who received payments to ensure that the monies involved were properly paid out to employees.
These checks confirmed a high level of compliance with the schemes, it added.
Due to the prevailing challenging economic situation facing businesses, Revenue announced an “important and significant extension” to the Debt Warehousing Scheme (DWS) last year, which extended the support for businesses who experienced cash-flow and trading challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and energy crisis.
“Businesses will be aware that one of the key conditions of the DWS is that all tax returns must be filed so that the debt is quantified, and current taxes must be paid as they fall due,” Revenue stated today.
On changes as a result of Brexit, Revenue said it processed a record breaking 43 million customs declarations, 40 million of which were import declarations last year.
It said this compares to just over 27 million import declarations processed in 2021 and 1 million in 2020.
“A key indicator of our success, and of the benefits of collaboration with business and cross agency collaboration, is that 89% of all freight vehicle movements from Great Britain into Ireland were green routed on arrival in Ireland, meaning they passed freely through the relevant port without the need for any additional interaction with Revenue or any other State Agency,” Revenue Commissioner and Director-General of Customs Gerry Harrahill said.
Today’s report also shows that a total of 1.7 million telephone calls were answered by Revenue during 2022 and 3.9 million items of correspondence were dealt with.
A total of 12.5 million electronic payments were made to Revenue, with a value of €111.9 billion, last year while 1.6 million electronic repayments were made to taxpayers, with a value of €11.4 billion.
Revenue also said it facilitated 9,899 business and individuals in entering Phased Payment Arrangements covering €192m of debts.
Revenue chairman Niall Cody said that while the economic impacts of Covid-19 have eased, it remains alert to the risks arising from the changes in the economic and business environments both nationally and globally.
“We are also acutely aware of the challenges facing the economy as regards continued security of supply chains, the cost-of-living crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We will remain proactive in addressing these risks and will continue to play our part in supporting the national response to these challenges,” Mr Cody said.
He said the “efficient” collection of taxes and duties due to the State continues to be Revenue’s primary role and focus.
“Timely tax return and payment compliance remains a priority for us, including for those businesses who have availed of the DWS and for whom timely compliance remains a key condition of their ability to continue to avail of the scheme,” he said.
He said that Revenue will continue to enhance its real-time engagement and interventions and response to risk.
“This will be achieved by embedding our Compliance Intervention Framework (CIF) into our compliance management approach to ensure that our response and actions are determined based on the level of risk and taxpayer behaviour,” he said.
The Revenue chairman also said it will provide comprehensive guidance and support to property owners in advance of the first chargeable period for the Vacant Homes Tax (VHT) and the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), and will continue to support business and trade as they adjust to the UK Government’s import requirements.
Article Source – 18,856 home owners pay LPT for first time in 2022 – Revenue – RTE.ie
