TEHRAN- The head of Iran National Tax Administration (INTA) said that the taxes on the luxury houses and cars will be imposed since the third Iranian calendar month Khordad (begins in May 21).

Omid-Ali Parsa said that the people subject to taxes on luxury cars and houses will be identified by then and this issue will be notified to them.

Speaking on the sidelines of the deregulation board meeting, the official added, "According to the budget law, houses worth more than 100 billion rials (about $2.38 million) will be taxed this year.”

Also, for luxury cars, if the total value of the cars of a person and his/her children under 18 years of age is more than 10 billion rials (about $238,095) it will be subject to tax, he added.

Meanwhile, the deputy transport and urban development minister said last week that the vacancy taxes are planned to be deposited in the National Housing Fund to be allocated for supplying homes for the low-income people.

Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh said, “The real estate and housing system is a basic measure to identify the housing situation of the country. The goal is not just taxes, but the main program is to identify the living conditions of the households for housing planning.”

Saying that any tax levied on vacant homes goes directly to the National Housing Fund and is used as a facility for the housing of the low-income people, the official said that it is a mistake to think that the government has created this system to increase tax revenues.

In late March, the head of Iran National Tax Administration announced that that the first taxes on vacant houses will be received in the fifth Iranian calendar month of Mordad (July 23 – August 22), and added that this tax will be half the value of the monthly rent of the property.

Parsa had announced in early February that the regulations for the tax on houses and luxury cars would be announced soon, adding that this annual tax has been collected and a heavy fine has been imposed on those who run away from it.

Back in last October, Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami had said that the ministry has referred a list of 194,000 vacant housing units to Iran National Tax Administration to be taxed under the new vacancy tax law.

The minister said that the owners of these houses have been informed in this regard via receiving SMSs.

In September 2020, Mahmoudzadeh had said that in the first stage of the implementation of the program for collecting tax from the country’s vacant housing units, only units belonging to natural persons are targeted.

The Iranian parliament (Majlis) had approved the double-urgency plan of the vacancy tax law in mid-July 2020.

The mentioned plan is mainly aimed at lowering the housing rental rate in the country.

MA/MA