The Society's Conveyancing and Taxation Committees are pleased to advise practitioners that Revenue, following a meeting with representatives of the two committees in October, has recently revised its LPT guidelines on the sale and transfer of residential property. 

• You can access the revised guidelines on the Revenue Website.

These changes will increase the number of cases where general clearance applies without having to refer the matter to Revenue. The main changes, effective 1 November 2015, are as follows:

• There is a new general clearance condition – where a property is sold for €300,000 or less, general clearance applies, regardless of what chargeable value was declared for the property.
• The allowable valuation margins by which the sale price/value exceeds the valuation band/chargeable value declared have been increased as follows:
  • In relation to properties outside Dublin city and county, from 15% to 25%.
  • In relation to properties in Dublin city and county, from 25% to 50%.
• The above increased allowable margins are carried through to the general clearance condition relating to expenditure on enhancements to a property.
• In the general clearance condition relating to sales of comparable properties, the time period prior to 1 May 2013 (within which there must be evidence of a sale of comparable property) has been increased from 6 months to 9 months.

The committees will continue to monitor these changes and would welcome any feedback from practitioners on any difficulties they encounter.