The draft bill of the land and buildings tax currently contains a provision that allows local authorities to handle price appraisals and this is something that is worrying to those in the private sector, according to local media reports. They are concerned about inconsistent appraisals that could impact business.
Concerns have also been voiced about the workload expected to be placed upon local administrations and if they will be able to perform various duties such as tax evaluation and collection. The Thai Chamber of Commerce is in the process of gathering issues related to the new land and buildings tax, which they will then present to the National Legislative Assembly later this year.
“The government should make the law simple and easy and acceptable among taxpayers,” says Atip Bijanonda, Director of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, to the Bangkok Post.
The Bureau of Property Valuation at the Treasury Department is expected to finish price appraisals for land plots in Thailand this year. The new land and buildings tax bill will take effect in January of 2018 after this task has been completed.
“People should not be worried much about a possible rise in the new appraisal prices, as the new appraisal prices will be still lower than market prices. Prices were appraised by referring to transactions people made,” says Wilawan Veerakun, Director of the Bureau of Property Valuation at the Treasury Department.
In addition to the price appraisal of land, there will also be building appraisals and condominium appraisals conducted. Buildings will see one price used across the country with building materials not included to determine value.
Residential buildings will have depreciation pricing with units categorised by materials. There are currently 2,000 condo buildings in Bangkok and most of these have not had any adjustments in their appraisal prices. Once finished, these prices will be set to reflect market prices.
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