27 February 2026
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Check our the maps at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/93f225452af04c29bab8fabb9095bc12

Cork County Council has published the final map for 2026 that show lands in County Cork which will be subject to Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) in 2026. Landowners are encouraged to check the map.

These locations have been identified within statutory land use plans as being appropriate locations for housing and they have benefitted from investment in the key services to support the delivery of housing. The process to identify land to which the tax applies is ongoing. The tax for 2026 will be due from February and payable from the 23rd May 2026.

Landowners may make a request to the Council to change the zoning of lands identified in the RZLT final map for 2026 until the 1st of April 2026. If certain conditions are met, a landowner may be exempt from the 2026 liability on foot of such a request.

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Mary Linehan Foley said, “The Residential Zoned Land Tax was introduced under the Government’s ‘Housing For All’ Plan in order to repurpose vacant land for residential purposes. It incentivises landowners to activate zoned, serviced residential development lands for housing, which boosts housing supply, as well as encouraging use of vacant land across the county.”

The RZLT process has two parts:

1) Identification and mapping of the land in scope for the tax. This is undertaken by local authorities through the publication of annual draft and annual final maps.

2) Administration of the tax. This will be undertaken by the Revenue Commissioners.

In addition, the draft map for 2027 has also been published and identifies land that may be liable for the tax in 2027. Owners of such land, and interested third parties, may make submissions regarding the exclusion and inclusion of land on this draft map, or the date on which the site first satisfied the relevant criteria. These submissions must also be made by the 1st of April 2026.

Although they are included on these maps, residential properties are not subject to RZLT if they are subject to Local Property Tax. It is not necessary to make a rezoning request or submission to remove this type of residential property from the map.

Information relating to the Residential Zoned Land Tax, the Annual Final Map for 2026, the Annual Draft Map for 2027, as well as a link to make a submissions can be found by visiting our website corkcoco.ie. The maps are also available to view online at your local library branch. For any further queries, please contact Cork County Council at 021-4824306 or email rzlt@corkcoco.ie