How to Pay your NPPR Bill by Wednesday’s Deadline

This Wednesday, 30 June, is the final deadline for payment of the  €200 Non- Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge for 2010.  From Thursday morning onwards, an extra charge of €20 per month will apply.

The charge applies to domestic properties, second homes, rental houses and apartments and other properties, except for an individual’s main residence.

If you are liable, you can pay this charge online at www.nppr.ie. This site is very easy and simple to use.

If you have used the website to pay your 2009 liability, simply follow the Login button on the homepage. You will be prompted for your Account Reference code and PIN password. If you don’t have these details to hand, you can have them emailed to you, by clicking on the ‘Lost Account Ref’ and ‘Lost PIN’ buttons. You will need your PPS number handy to retrieve your Account Reference code.

Once you manage to log in, you will see details of your registered property or properties. Then follow the remaining links and pay by credit card or laser/debit card.

If you haven’t used the site before, go to the ‘New Customer’ area of the home page, click on the ‘New Account‘ button and follow the steps to enter your personal and property details and pay the charge.

In my experience, the process should take only about 5 minutes or so. If you have queries, follow the FAQs (frequently asked questions) tab on the NPPR homepage.

€200 NPPR Levy for 2010 falls due on Wednesday

The €200 Non- Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge for 2010 falls due this Wednesday, 31 March 2010. If you are liable, you have three months to pay this charge, until 30 June next.

After 1 July, an additional late payment fee of €20 per month will be charged.

You will be liable for the €200 charge if, on 31 March 2010, you are the owner of a residential property that is not your “Principal Private Residence”.

For more information, see the NPPR website.

For some reason, the NPPR site “is currently undergoing maintenance and will be unavailable until Wednesday the 31st March. The site will re-open and accept payments on the 31st March.”  However, in the meantime, the helpful FAQ section of the site is still open.

Revenue chasing PAYE landlords

The Sunday Independent reported last weekend that the Revenue is monitoring PAYE workers with rental income. If you have rental income, you are obliged to file a self-assessment tax return each year, and pay any tax outstanding.

The paper quoted a Revenue spokeswoman as saying “All information available to and information received by Revenue in relation to rental income is acted upon on an on-going basis. Projects, specifically aimed at investigating landlords in the private rented sector, are regularly undertaken in all regions to monitor this sector. Arising out of these projects, some cases are referred for further investigation and audit.”

Ironically, this news comes at a time when many amateur landlords with 1 or 2 investment properties are making losses rather than profits on their properties. Rents have fallen and vacancy rates have risen significantly in recent years, and some owners are struggling to meet their mortgage commitments each month.

Even if they are incurring losses, and have no current tax liability, the onus remains on each individual landlord to file an annual tax return with Revenue.

Any property owner who has failed to file returns for past years should bring their affairs up to date as soon as possible. This is especially important if there is a possibility of tax arrears arising. If Revenue impose interest and penalty charges on top of tax arrears, the total bill could amount to a tidy sum. Interest continues to accumulate each month until the liability is paid

Unfortunately it is not possible to offset subsequent rental losses against previous rental profits.

You can find a guide to preparing your Rental Income Tax Return, on my website.

Here is the Sunday Independent article.