In the first seven months of 2024, Latvian municipalities sent 48,000 more property tax (NĪN) payment notices to individuals electronically than last year and 124,000 more than in 2022, according to data compiled by SIA “ZZ Dats,” the developer and maintainer of the portal www.epakalpojumi.lv. This year, 317,000, or 28.7% of the RPT notices prepared for individuals, were sent via email, while 143,000, or 12.9%, were sent to official email addresses. Local governments in Latgale continue to spend resources, sending nearly 80% of property tax payment notices by mail—positive exceptions are the Preiļi and Ludza districts, where nearly half of the payment notices were sent electronically this year.
“Although in recent years, since SIA “ZZ Dats” raised this issue, pointing out that the preparation and delivery of property tax payment notices by mail costs Latvian municipalities more than one million euros annually, the number of property tax payment notices still sent by mail is far too high—in the first half of the year, 645,000 paper-printed property tax payment notices were sent by mail to individuals, including 15,000 sent abroad. I urge local governments to more actively encourage residents to use electronic means of communication to receive information from them. It is unacceptable that, in this era of digitalization, the preparation and delivery of property tax payment notices by mail costs Latvian local governments more than one million euros annually. According to our specialists’ calculations, these costs amount to approximately twenty thousand euros per year for a medium-sized municipality. “Any individual can sign up on the portal www.epakalpojumi.lv in just a few minutes to receive their property tax notice electronically, thereby saving budget funds that the municipality could redirect to other purposes,” emphasizes Edžus Žeiris, director of SIA “ZZ Dats.”
Some municipalities have very good digitization rates
Municipalities with very good digitization rates deserve praise, notes Edžus Žeiris, director of SIA “ZZ Dats”: “Four municipalities deserve praise for having exceeded the symbolic 50% threshold in 2024 regarding payment notices sent electronically to individuals. This was achieved by the municipalities of Ādaži, Kuldīga, Ogre, and Olaine. The municipality of Olaine simultaneously achieved one of the largest increases in the country, raising the proportion of electronically sent payment notices by nearly 10 percent!”
Similarly, growth in those municipalities where the percentage of electronically sent property tax payment notices exceeds the national average is viewed positively. SIA “ZZ Dats” forecasts that by 2025, municipalities such as Cēsis, Ķekava, Limbaži, Ludza, Mārupe, Preiļi, Ropaži, Saulkrasti, Smiltene, and Ventspils, as well as the city of Riga—in these municipalities, 45–49% of property tax payment notices to individuals are sent electronically.
In 2024, the greatest growth was achieved by the municipalities of Ādaži, Mārupe, Olaine, Ropaži, Saulkrasti, Valkas, and Varakļānu counties, and the municipality of Riga, where the proportion of payment notices sent electronically to individuals increased by 7 percentage points or more compared to 2023 figures. Over a two-year period, the most sustained growth has been maintained by the municipalities of Kuldīga, Olaine, Saulkrasti, and Valka, as well as the City of Riga, where growth exceeds 17 percent compared to 2022 figures.
“Our observations show that residents and legal entities are more likely to opt in to receive property tax payment notices if local government representatives encourage them to do so through their communication channels or in face-to-face conversations—and sometimes even explain and guide them on how to do it. We see that there are municipalities spending substantial funds on printing and mailing property tax payment notices, even though those funds would be urgently needed for other purposes. The lowest rates are observed in Latgale. For example, the Daugavpils City Municipality mailed just under 79% of all property tax payment notices this year, Rēzekne Municipality 78%, the city of Rēzekne 77%, and Balvu and Augšdaugava counties 71%,” summarizes Edžus Žeiris, director of SIA “ZZ Dats.”
In the first seven months of 2024, 1,109,000 property tax payment notices were prepared for individuals, of which 41.6% were sent electronically —the rest are prepared in printed form and sent by mail both within Latvia and abroad. 317,000, or 28.7%, of the property tax payment notices prepared for individuals were sent via email, while 143,000, or 12.9%, were sent to an official email address. By comparison, in 2021, only 25.5% of property tax payment notices for individuals were sent electronically.
Greater activity is expected from legal entities
Since 2023, all legal entities are required to activate their official e-address. According to a study conducted by SIA “ZZ Dats,” only 52% of legal entities received property tax payment notices at their official electronic address, or e-address, in 2024. A growing number of legal entities, contrary to the provisions of regulatory acts, have not activated their e-address. In the first seven months of 2024, 59,000 property tax payment notices were sent to legal entities: 18,000 (31.2%) via email and 30,000 (52.4%) via e-address.
Three steps to sign up to receive real estate tax payment notices electronically
Signing up to receive real estate tax payment notices via email is very simple. Property owners can do this in just a few minutes on the service portal www.epakalpojumi.lv by following these steps:
- The property owner must log in to the portal www.epakalpojumi.lv using online banking or e-signature authentication tools.
- In the section “Real Estate” > “Email and SMS Notification,” you must specify the municipality, email address, and mobile phone number. By providing a mobile phone number, you can sign up for SMS reminders about the approaching deadline for NĪN payment.
- Confirm the accuracy of the entered email address by opening the link in the email confirmation message you received.
For individuals and legal entities, activating the official email address requires no further action, and the municipality will automatically send the real estate tax payment notice to the official email address the next time it is issued.
If the owner does not have electronic authentication means, the application to receive the property tax payment notice electronically can be filled out at municipal customer service centers. If a resident owns multiple properties in different municipalities, a separate application must be submitted to each municipality.
