Almost 100 submissions on Residential Zoned Land Tax

Almost 100 submissions were made to Tipperary Co Council in respect of the new Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT).

A policy objective of the Government’s Housing for All plan, the tax seeks to activate land for residential purposes and will in time replace the Vacant Site Levy. It is intended to encourage activation of existing planning permissions on lands that are identified as being in scope and to incentivise suitable lands without planning permission to commence the process of engagement with planning authorities.

Draft maps were published last November and were subject to a consultation period until January 1. A total of 91 submissions were received, of which 67 require a formal determination with a notification of the determination.

Landowners can appeal the determination to An Bord Pleanála by May 1 of this year. The remaining 24 submissions have been evaluated for supplemental and final map preparation. Where a submission has requested a change to the zoning of land, the process of reviewing all rezoning submissions received will be undertaken as a single, collective variation process after the public notification period for the supplemental map has ended on June 1.

Supplemental maps, which will contain only additional sites not shown on the draft maps, will be published on May 1, 2023, for which there will be a consultation period for four weeks. Similar to the draft map stage, the local authority will be required to make a determination on submissions received by a landowner requesting an exclusion or challenging the in-scope date. And, again, such determinations can be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

The final maps are to be published on December 1. The draft maps are available for inspection at the council offices and on the council’s website.