01.11.2022
In February 2021, the House of Representatives passed an unenforceable law levying a 0.4% tax on all sales of real estate, the proceeds of which were to go to support Greek Cypriot refugees.
The legislative proposal, adopted unanimously at the plenum, was aimed at compensating refugees for their inability to own, access or otherwise profitably use their land in the occupied north of the Republic.
It provided for a tax on any sale/transfer of real estate, as well as on the transfer of shares in a company in which that firm owns real estate. Also, the tax was to be levied when the transfer of shares results in the buyer gaining control of the corporation or exploiting the real estate in question.
The funds raised were to go to a fund run by the Central Equal Burden-Sharing Agency. It is a government agency tasked with helping refugees from the 1974 war.
However, there was an unforgivable mistake in the law, since it did not specify exactly how the tax would be collected, and which government agency would be responsible for collecting it.
As a result, the law turned out to be unenforceable!
Last week, more than 18 months after the passage of the unenforceable law, a revised law was passed making the Internal Revenue Department responsible for collecting and collecting the 0.4% tax.
While the law was passed unanimously in the plenum, the clause stipulating that the tax would apply from February 2021, when the original law was passed, which was unenforceable, caused some friction. An amendment to repeal this paragraph, submitted by DISY, was rejected. A tax of 0.4% is paid by the seller of the property.
Who are the Greek Cypriot refugees?
Cypriot refugees are Cypriot citizens or residents of Cyprus whose main place of residence was in an area in the north of the Republic that was forcibly evacuated during the Turkish invasion in 1974. The Cypriot government also recognizes male-line descendants of the original refugees as refugees.
Since 1974, the number of Greek Cypriot refugees has increased dramatically.
