Citizens on rental or rent to own plans with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) will not have to pay property taxes for homes they are occupying.
The HDC will foot this bill for them, says HDC corporate communications manager Maurisa Findlay.
“It’s our responsibility to pay for properties that are on rental and rent to own,” Findlay told the Guardian.
However, when HDC homes are conveyed to homeowners they will be given a licence to occupy and will have to pay their own property taxes, Findlay said.
These HDC homeowners would be taxed on the value of the housing estate they lived in, she said.
They could contact their mortgage companies for more details, Findlay said.
Will object to steep increases
Meanwhile, residents in north Trinidad are hoping they won’t see a very steep increase in property taxes come 2017.
The owner of a valuations and real estate company operating in the area, requesting anonymity, said many of his clients have said they did not mind paying property taxes once they were fair.
He said the old taxes they were paying were based on outdated assessments of the value of their properties and, as such, the rates were not very high
The source said the value of properties in certain areas went up over the last five years or so.
“In areas where there is a high demand for property, like Goodwood Park in Westmoorings and Lange Park in Chaguanas, the rental value of properties will be higher than in areas like Sangre Grande and other rural districts.
“Therefore the old seven-and-a-half per cent they were paying on outdated assessments would not have been very high.
“The new three per cent, though seeming to be a reduction, may actually work out to be higher because of modern assessments,” the source added.
Asked what was the annual rental value of an average home, he asked: “What is an average home?”
The source said it was difficult to make such an assessment and added his clients have said they “will object” if the new taxes were steep.
He advised the Government to be mindful of that.
Confused
Residents of Couva and Chaguanas are confused and unclear how the new property taxes will be implemented.
Chairman of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC), Henry Awong, said people in the countryside areas do not know how the rental value of their properties would be assessed.
“You don’t have too many people renting in country areas,” he said.
“People are also seeing it as ‘More tax again’,” he added.
Awong said until the collection of land and building taxes was discontinued in 2009, residents were paying minimal taxes at a Board of Inland Revenue office in Couva.
He said part of the Government’s proposed reformation of local government was that regional corporations would assume full responsibility for the collection of taxes.
Awong said to date the CTTRC had not been informed of any such future role and there existed no department to deal with the collection of taxes.
Chaguanas mayor, Gopaul Boodan, said burgesses have expressed concerns about where their taxes would go.
“Many of them are saying they would like to see the taxes collected used for the improvement of their communities,” he said.
Boodan said the Rates and Taxes Department at the Chaguanas Corporation had been sharing the burden of tax collection with the Board of Inland Revenue in the area until it was stopped.
He said, they too, have not been apprised of any new role they would have to pay in the collection of property taxes and just didn’t know how it was going to work.
He surmised the new Revenue Authority may assume full responsibility for this.
Commissioner of Valuations
The office of the Commissioner of Valuations, believed to be the body which will assess the value of properties all over T&T, declined to speak to the T&T Guardian on the matter.
A staffer directed all queries to the Communications Department at the Ministry of Finance under which they fall.
However, quantity surveyors have expressed concern about the Commissioner of Valuations’ office to prepare for the collection of property taxes next year.
“At the last count, there were over 400,000 properties in T&T. The rental value of all these properties will have to be worked out.
“Whether they can do this is time for the next fiscal year remains to be seen,” a quantity surveyor said.
He said residents may be asked to make their own declarations of the value of their properties but foresaw problems with that.
The source said of concern to many was the lack of mention of non-residential properties (industrial) in the property tax proposals. He said squatters may be spared for fear that assessing them may legitimise them.
New tax invoices
Finance Minister Colm Imbert, during his budget presentation, said property tax collections will be fully implemented in 2017 based on the Property Tax Act 2009 and with minor amendments to the Valuation of Land Act.
However, a flat rate of three per cent from the old Act will be applied in the meantime.
He said there would be exemptions for homeowners on the basis of ability to pay.
Imbert said new tax invoices would be issued in 2017 subsequent to the completion of the valuation roll prepared by the Commissioner of Valuations and the assessment roll prepared by the Inland Revenue Division.
He said under the Valuations of Land Act every owner was required to submit a return which would be used by the Valuation Division to calculate the annual rental value.
If that was not done the division would prepare its own valuation, he added.