Local media has said that the government wants to create a clear and easy to understand framework for the taxation of real estate in the popular holiday destination. It is hoped that work between policy makers and PwC will be concluded within three months before the new rules are brought in. The news provider has also reported a number of advisory changes made by the Cyprus Land and Building Developers Association. The main alteration it wants to bring in is for all properties to be taxed individually based on their current valuations. At the moment, tax is calculated by bringing together the 1908 values of every property owned by a person and averaged out, which could see some people make some substantial savings and cost the Cypriot government money.

Other changes it has asked for the government to consider include increasing the amount of tax to be paid to also add in all of the other taxes that an owner would owe, including things levied by the Inland Revenue, municipalities, and communities together with sewerage charges. The above are all also based on the value of an individual property. Finally, the association has said that when it comes to newly built homes, the buyer themselves should be liable to pay the property tax even before they have been handed the deeds to the home, which would help to take a financial burden away from developers and increase new builds in the nation.

The organisation said that bringing in these changes would lower the administrative fees faced by governments in particular, as well as making it easier and cheaper to collect them, which will be beneficial to payers and the authorities alike. To help out buyers, it also advised that discounts should be provided whenever a tax bill is paid before the deadline, amounting to 10%, with an additional 5% knocked off for online payments.

Source: Property show rooms