A draft revised final Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) map will be published on February 1, 2024, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Jack Chambers has confirmed.
The liability date of the tax has been deferred by one year until February 2025 as announced by Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath as part of Budget 2024 last week.
This deferral provides an opportunity to landowners to request the rezoning of land which appears on the draft revised final map, Minister Chambers said.
Senator Victor Boyhan raised the ongoing issue relating to the RZLT in the Seanad today (Tuesday, October 17), with the minister of state who spoke on behalf of Minister McGrath.
RZLT
The finance bill is expected to be published shortly and will set out in full the details of the deferral announced by Minister McGrath, the minister of state told the Seanad.
Last year Local Authorities already published draft RZLT maps outlining which lands would be subject to the new annual tax which will apply at a rate of 3% of the land’s market value.
People now have more time to make a “stronger case” and can “go back to their local authority or An Bord Pleanála” if their applications to have land de-zoned were refused, Senator Boyhan said.
“It is outrageous that a full-time farmer that didn’t ask for his/her land to be zoned would now be on the hook for a potential tax on their land which is being used for active land-use agricultural production purposes.
“Farming organisations and rural TDs and councillors have said the RZLT will pose significant difficulties for farmers whose land has been zoned as residential,” he said.
Senator Boyhan added that he has been speaking with horticultural growers in north Co. Dublin who find themselves in the same “anomaly”.
The tax does not consider the specific housing need per county, he said, adding that housing need in the greater Dublin area and cities is different than in some rural areas in Roscommon and Donegal.
“I believe we must bring in lands [for housing] but there are different lands in different parts of the country and this legislation must have some regard for the demand for housing,” he said.
The senator called on the government to modify the RZLT to exclude farmland where the landowner sought for the land to be de-zoned but the planning authority refused the application.
The minister of state said that landowners will not have to pay the RZLT if they own a dwelling which appears on the local authority’s RZLT map, but which is also subject to the Local Property Tax.
He reassured the senator of the government’s “continued commitment” to ensuring that affected landowners have an opportunity to engage with their Local Authority as part of the annual mapping process.