FOLLOWING changes to the law, everyone who has purchased property in Cyprus is required to pay Immovable Property Tax (IPT) this year, regardless of whether they hold the Title Deed to the property.
Those without the deed to the property they purchased should complete a Form 318 2014 (English & Greek) and pay their IPT liability by 31st October to benefit from the 15% discount on offer. (Note that T.I.C and M.V. on the 318 refers to Taxpayers Identification Code and Market Value.)
Those who are not registered with the Inland Revenue here in Cyprus need to complete a Form I.R. 163A/2014 to register on the tax system.
Non-residents (who are not liable for Cyprus Income Tax) need to complete sections 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 22 and in section 14 tick box 92 – Individual with Immovable Property obligation ONLY, plus their name, signature and date at the bottom of Form I.R. 163A/2014 – and should send the completed forms, together with a clear copy of their passport page showing their photograph and the passport number to: The Department of Taxation, 1472 Nicosia, Cyprus.
The Inland Revenue is opening a new file for each non-Title-Deed-holding IPT payer so that any discrepancies can be resolved between the vendor and the purchaser when the Title Deed is issued.
IPT collections to date
So far this year around 76,800 people have paid a total of €23.5 million IPT according to official figures, up from €22 million at the same time last year. But it appears that only those with modest properties have paid; if those with higher value properties and those with multiple properties had also paid, IPT collected so far would be closer to €34 million.
Speaking to the Phileleftheros, an Inland Revenue official said that the process of ensuring that IPT is paid has been hindered by property developers. Some have supplied incomplete lists of properties they had sold and some of the forms omitted the value of the property purchased, or ID of the purchasers or their addresses making them hard to trace.