Revenue officials said they needed a \u201cclear position\u201d on whether modular homes and garden dwellings should be subject to Local Property Tax amid uncertainty over how rules applied to them.<\/p>\n
In internal discussions, the Revenue Commissioners said there was no published guidance referring specifically to modular homes or similar properties even though they were \u201cbecoming very common.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garden homes of up to 45 square metres \u2013 colloquially known as \u2018shed sits\u2019 \u2013 are to be exempted from planning permission as part of government plans to increase housing supply.<\/p>\n
Revenue records detail how there was \u201cambiguity\u201d over whether some buildings not permanently attached to the ground came within the definition of residential property.<\/p>\n
An internal email said there were certain types of structures that were not classified as residential properties even if used as a dwelling.<\/p>\n
This included mobile homes, shipping containers fitted out as accommodation, houseboats, caravans and camper vans.<\/p>\n
However, the picture was less clear-cut for modular homes in gardens, a senior official said.<\/p>\n
A message said: \u201cThe advice attached suggests that, while \u2018structures\u2019 which are not permanently attached to the ground are excluded, buildings in their own right, whether permanently attached to the ground or not, come within the meaning of a \u2018residential property\u2019, but there is some ambiguity around this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also ambiguity around whether modular homes are permanently attached to the ground, but they do have a degree of permanence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revenue said in one case where a taxpayer had claimed a type of prefab building was not subject to Local Property Tax (LPT), officials had disagreed.<\/p>\n
They told the person the property had been declared as his main residence, was subject to LPT, and \u201cthe onus was on him to prove otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
An email conceded existing guidance language was \u201cconfusing\u201d and there was no case law to fall back on for definitive answers.<\/p>\n
Another message to the Department of Finance from April this year said cases would have to be assessed based on \u201cindividual facts and circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the discussions, a Revenue spokesperson said legislation on Local Property Tax made clear that it applied to \u201cany building which is in use as, or is suitable for use as, a dwelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said the law excluded a structure that was \u201cnot permanently attached to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said: \u201cPart of a building or a structure permanently attached to the ground and that is immoveable can be a residential property in its own right, and a building can contain a number of different residential properties for the purposes of LPT.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany property owners have garages, greenhouses, and other structures on the site of their home which should be included when the property owners are making a true assessment of the correct value of the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said if a modular home was permanently attached to the ground and suitable for use as a separate dwelling, a separate Local Property Tax charge \u201cmay apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said: \u201cIt should be noted that LPT is a self-assessed tax and the treatment for LPT purposes will depend on the application of the legislation to the facts and circumstances of each case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revenue officials said they needed a \u201cclear position\u201d on whether modular homes and garden dwellings should be subject…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-539893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}