The Minister for Finance appointed Indecon international economic consultants to undertake an independent review of issues relating to a tax on vacant residential property and to inform government policy in this area. As part of this review a public consultation took place last month, the focus of the consultation was on:

• Rationale for this form of taxation
• Available baseline data to determine the tax base
• Administrative requirements for the implementation and operation of such a tax
• Alternative options and other dimensions

Finance Act 2017 provided that the Minister should prepare a report on the introduction of a vacant property tax and related matters no later than 9 months after the Finance Act was passed (December 2017).

The objective of a vacant property tax would be to increase the supply of homes for rent or purchase to meet demand rather than increasing tax revenues.

Details on the consultation are available from the Department of Finance website