Property tax, how the builders, the (un) legalized, and the co-owners will pay

2023-08-07 14:50:00, Ekonomi CNA

The new draft law on real estate tax, which aims to increase revenue collection for municipalities, has foreseen how to deal with specific cases that are commonly encountered in the country.

Such are the cases of apartments in the process of legalization but which still have a certificate of ownership, private land that is occupied by buildings in the process of legalization or constructions that are under development and where the developer may be one or several enterprises. Specifically, in the draft law issued for consultation by the government, Article 9 defines who is the taxpayer as the case may be.

Point one states that "the taxpayer is the owner of the immovable property". It continues with the case when we have objects with unclear ownership.

"If the owner of the plot does not use his plot, because that plot is occupied by one or more units of unlicensed or legalized buildings, the taxpayer(s) for the plot is/are the possessor(s) or the owner(s) of building units. Such determination does not give any right of ownership over the plot, to the owners or owners of the building units" is stated in point 2.

Meanwhile, according to point 3, if the immovable property is not equipped with a title document, the taxpayer is the owner of the immovable property. Such designation does not confer any ownership right on the immovable property to the possessor.

Point 4 defines how to act when we have a building that is not yet finished.

"If the building unit has not been completed and is being built on the basis of a building permit, the taxpayer is the developer of the building unit. When the building unit is not completed and no building permit is available for it, the taxpayer is the owner of the building unit. "Such a determination does not give any right of ownership over the building unit to the possessor," this point states.

In accordance with the conditions defined in points 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this article, the responsibility for paying the full annual property tax, for a given tax year, belongs to the person who is the owner, developer or possessor of the property real estate on November 30 of the previous year.

Point 6 specifies cases where we are dealing with co-ownership, i.e. more than one owner.

"When real estate is co-owned or co-owned by two or more persons, or is being developed by two or more developers, each of these persons is responsible for the payment of tax obligations, in proportion to the share of their certain If the parts are unspecified, then they are assumed to be equal. Taxpayers are individually responsible for the payment of tax obligations" it says in this point./ Monitor.al