An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19, was announced in May.  In recognition of the fact that not only were many ratepayers forced to close business due to the public health requirements, but also many that remained open suffered significant reductions in turnover, the waiver was extended from three to six months until 27 September 2020.  A 100% waiver was applied to all businesses with the exception of a small number of categories, mainly banks, utilities, large supermarkets and corporates.  The rationale for the exclusion of certain categories of ratepayers is that their operations are not as severely impacted by the pandemic, coupled with the need to direct resources appropriately.  600m euro was allocated by Government to fund the cost of the six-month waiver, which takes the form of a credit in lieu of rates. 

In Budget 2021, the Government announced an extension of the waiver for the final quarter of the year (until end of December 2020) at an additional cost of 300m euro.  The criteria for the extended waiver remains the same and it is intended that the waiver for the final quarter will be automatically applied to rate accounts that benefitted from the six-month waiver.  A total of 900m euro has been allocated by Government to fund the cost of a waiver of commercial rates for nine months to the end of December, for eligible businesses.  This unprecedented measure offers support to businesses and certainty to our local authorities.

Ratepayers eligible for the waiver for the 6 months to the end of September will likewise be eligible for the 3 month extension.  Any queries in relation to the application of the waiver should be directed to the rates office / section in the relevant local authority.

The funding for the six month waiver is being paid to local authorities in three stages, two of which are complete. 

An initial allocation was paid to local authorities for cash flow purposes on 21 October 2020.

Following completion of the administration of the six month waiver to eligible businesses, the second payment to local authorities was made on Friday 13 November.  Details of the total allocations paid to local authorities to date, for the rates waiver, are outlined below.  At the end of stage two, almost 118,000 ratepayers had benefited from the six month rates waiver and just under 460m euro of rates had been waived by local authorities and funded by Government.

The final allocation for the six month waiver will be paid to local authorities in December, on completion of the administration of the rates waiver to businesses in excluded categories that demonstrated serious impact from COVID 19 to their relevant local authority.

The funding for the three month extension of the rates waiver will be paid to local authorities in a single payment in December.