Six months to appeal new IPT valuations

By George Psyllides
PROPERTY owners have six months to appeal the government’s evaluation of their real estate and correct any other mistakes made in the process of fixing immovable property tax (IPT), officials said on Monday.
The new 2013 values have been published on the land registry’s website though access was impossible on Monday, possibly due to heavy traffic. These new values will be used for accessing and paying IPT from 2015. This year IPT will be assessed using the old 1980 valuation.
Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said taxpayers now have six months to correct mistakes or appeal the 2013 valuations.
Owners can file an appeal by paying a fee that depends on the value of their property.
For properties up to €100,000, owners will be charged €37.5, €75 for properties between €100,001 and €500,000, €150 for properties up to one million euros, and €357 for those over a million euros.
Pending the outcome of the appeal, owners can go ahead and pay the tax on the amount they deem was correct.
The ministry held a seminar on Monday to brief experts about the evaluation.
As part of the bailout, the government was supposed to have updated real estate values by mid 2014.
However, it emerged that too many issues still needed clarification and so it was decided to use 1980s values once more and start using the new system in 2015.
The new evaluation was completed in less than a year using in situ inspections, satellite images, price analyses based on sales, cost of construction and other elements.
It also involved a mass computerised assessment in accordance with international standards and with the support of specialised software
Meanwhile, the government announced that the deadline to pay this year’s IPT was November 30.
Taxpayers will get a 15 per cent discount if the IPT is fully paid by October 31.
A 10 per cent penalty plus interest and other administrative fees will be charged if IPT is paid after November 30.

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