PROPERTY owners and purchasers have until April 25 next year to appeal the government’s valuation of their real estate and correct any other mistakes made in the process of fixing immovable property tax (IPT).

The three-month extension – the previous deadline was end of January 2015 – was approved in a law passed yesterday by the House plenum.

The new 2013 property values have been published on the land registry’s website. These new values will be used for accessing and paying IPT from 2015. This year, IPT will be assessed using the old 1980 valuation.

Owners can file an appeal by paying a fee that depends on the value of their property.

Authorities have received thousands of complaints from people about errors made in the new valuations.

Earlier, lawmakers had heard of massive mistakes, including cases where new property values were hundreds of times larger than the initial values.

A Paphos hotel valued at €6.5m at 1980 values had been revalued at €162m, while a bank had estimated it at just €40m. A plot of land valued at €227,000 at 1980 values had been revalued at €7m.

As part of Cyprus’ bailout agreement with international lenders, authorities here completed the revaluation of some half a million properties in June. It was initially planned that IPT for 2014 would be levied based on the up-to-date values, but the new rates will now apply for IPT payable in 2015.

Filing an appeal

Those wishing to file an objection may phone the Land Registry help line on 77777730 and follow the instructions.

You will need to have your passport and details of the property handy. The Land Registry officer will check if there has been a mistake in the valuation while you wait.

If they say there is nothing wrong and you then decide to object to the valuation you will need to visit the Land Registry office and complete the appeal forms. The cost of submitting an appeal depends on the 2013 valuation of the property:

For a property valued up to €100,000, the charge is €37.50.
For a property valued between €100,001 and €500,000 the charge is €75.00.
For a property valued between €500,001 and €1 million, the charge is €150.00.
For a property valued in excess of €1 million, the charge is €357.00.

And even if your objection is successful, the charge will not be refunded.

Complainants may also visit their local Citizens Service Centre and file their objection with them.

LAND developers have so far paid only a fraction of their immovable property tax (IPT) for 2014, with reports saying that just €328,000 out of a total of €4.2 million was paid.

In a story run by daily Phileleftheros, a high ranking official with the Inland Revenue Department, Renos Ioannou, is quoted as saying that out of the 214 land developing businesses only a few had settled their outstanding IPT obligations.

This comes a year after the state agreed to facilitate land developers so that they could pay the IPT. In 2013 land developers were required to pay a €7 million in IPT but failed to do so, arguing that the required tax was too steep.

The state reviewed its property value estimation to accommodate the companies and even excluded properties the companies didn’t have a title deed for. Despite the revised taxation, land developers still failed to pay their taxes.

Their unwillingness to pay comes in stark contrast with homeowners, 79 per cent of which paid their taxes in time resulting in a €88 million money injection for the government.

The 214 companies are not the only land developers in trouble. A total of 380 land developers failed to properly file their paperwork so the Inland Revenue Department could issue an estimate for IPT and have not yet responded to requests by the IRD to do so.

In October, the House of Representatives approved extending the deadline for paying the IPT until the end of the year, also extending the 15 per cent discount awarded to companies and homeowners who settle their affairs in time.

Commenting on the article in today’s Phileleftheros, the Cyprus Land and Building Developers Association said that the payment deadline had not been reached and therefore it would be good to wait until the revised deadline. In its announcement the Association also said that a large number of its members had already paid the tax.