Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012

Arrears of household charge.

156.— (1) Where—

(a) a liability to the household charge is to be discharged by the relevant person making payment, on or before 30 April 2013, to the local authority in whose functional area the property is situated, and

(b) the amount that would be required to be paid, were section 7(1) of the Act of 2011 to apply and apart from this subsection, in order to discharge that liability would exceed €130,

then notwithstanding that section 7(1), the payment of €130 by the relevant person to that local authority, on or before the foregoing date, shall discharge that liability.

(2) Subsection (3) shall apply notwithstanding—

(a) any requirement under the Act of 2011 for a liability to the household charge to be discharged in favour of a local authority, or a relevant board (within the meaning of section 13 of that Act) in a case where one or more of a local authority’s functions have been delegated to such a board under section 13 of that Act, or

(b) the functions conferred by that Act on a local authority or such a board with respect to that charge’s collection,

where, on 1 July 2013, a household charge liability in respect of a residential property remains undischarged.

(3) Subject to subsection (5), any liability to the household charge that remains undischarged on 1 July 2013 shall—

(a) be treated as a charge of €200 to local property tax that is due and payable on that date, and

(b) cease to be treated as a household charge liability under the Act of 2011.

(4) The charge of €200 referred to in subsection (3) shall be payable to the Revenue Commissioners and all of the provisions of this Act that relate to the collection of local property tax shall apply to the charge as if it were an amount of local property tax.

(5) Subsection (3) shall not apply in respect of any liability to the household charge that is the subject of legal proceedings taken by a local authority or a relevant board under the Act of 2011 where those proceedings have been commenced before 1 July 2013 and are still in being on that date.

(6) Where a local authority is satisfied that all or any part of a liability to the household charge in respect of a residential property situated in the functional area of the local authority has not been discharged before 1 July 2013, it shall notify the Revenue Commissioners in writing of the address of the property and the name and address of the owner (within the meaning of the Act of 2011) of the property.