Property Tax in Trinidad & Tobago

[aaron17]

Oh ok

[bluefete]

Wait , is the old form invalid and would you have to fill this 'so call' new form?

Whoever filled out an old one will not have to resubmit

Are you sure about that?

The new form requires different information so I think everyone will have to re-submit.

[ProtonPowder]

Wait , is the old form invalid and would you have to fill this 'so call' new form?

Whoever filled out an old one will not have to resubmit

Are you sure about that?

The new form requires different information so I think everyone will have to re-submit.

As of yesterday it have >122k VRFs in the database. Asking for all those to be resubmitted will be a waste of time and manpower not to mention impossible. The only thing that they even end up using is the owner/agent name, phone number (and very rarely email address) together with the documents they submit.
The form itself is just a cover page, the deed and utility bills are the most important bits for the type of interest in the land, parcel size and proper names of the owners from the deed. And from the Wasa bill would be the correct service address and the previous L&B assessment #

[rambo22]

Proton what about incomplete buildings no water, no electricity NOT livable.....

[ProtonPowder]

Incomplete buildings or uninhabitable buildings so far have not been measured. This is really because for now, and note that i really mean for now, only liveable residentials and mixed useds are being taken up. In the law, the tax can be calculated for vacant land instead of for the building if the tax for the former would exceed the latter, same as paying the stamp duty on whichever is higher: the consideration or the value of a property.

But that is a complicated thing to weigh out honestly, and it has not been worked out yet.

As for houses that are complete without lights/water such as deep rural community shacks and substandards, if they are actually in use they can potentially be assessed with heavy negative modifiers for the lack of services. Those modifications do exist, but they have not been used yet as such communities are too far from the regional offices to be worth visiting for now.

[sMASH]

And what about unlivable houses that are being lived in?

[rspann]

Proton, thanks for the valuable information you are passing on here. How are they doing apartment buildings? If they put a rentable value , and you are getting less than that because of the downturn in the economy? What about people whose apartments are not fully rented out?

[bluefete]

Proton, thanks for the valuable information you are passing on here. How are they doing apartment buildings? If they put a rentable value , and you are getting less than that because of the downturn in the economy? What about people whose apartments are not fully rented out?

The tax is based on a minimum rental value of $18,000.00. This works out to be Property Tax of about $480.00 per year

If you are getting less than $18,000.00, you will have to raise your rent! I am sorry for tenants.

[88sins]

Proton, thanks for the valuable information you are passing on here. How are they doing apartment buildings? If they put a rentable value , and you are getting less than that because of the downturn in the economy? What about people whose apartments are not fully rented out?

The tax is based on a minimum rental value of $18,000.00. This works out to be Property Tax of about $480.00 per year

If you are getting less than $18,000.00, you will have to raise your rent! I am sorry for tenants.

correct, but the bulk of landlords will increase their rent accordingly not just those making below $18K. Especially those that have multiple units in a complex.

With the increase in rent, in a few years, they gonna adjust ARV's upwards, (because everywhere rent went up), so more tax in yuh pweffn, cycle will repeat, & so on & so forth

[rspann]

Magnum est PNM et praevalebit.

[ProtonPowder]

Minimum rental value for this stands at 18k per annum. But remember this is not a figure based on the amount of rent passing, but rather a fixed rate per square foot of the building in relation to building class and location.

Each separate apartment has a separate tax to pay, as buildings deemed to be suitable for separate occupation are each deemed as land and have their own rental figures calculated. Tenants will be forced to pay on behalf of the landlords in most if not all cases by the landlord's request. Getting the tenant to pay the tax would make it simpler in that the landlord will not have to charge more rent to pay the tax and then charge more to profit from it.

As for raised rents affecting ARV calculations, is very possible, but the COV would have to adjust that, and that would take years to do. Is 2009 rates being used right now for this. It will always have a serious lag time.

[88sins]

As for raised rents affecting ARV calculations, is very possible, but the COV would have to adjust that, and that would take years to do. Is 2009 rates being used right now for this. It will always have a serious lag time.

Not only is it possible, it's the planned intention. it's actually one of the primary reasons that the ARV is used as the basis for calculation., because the trend of rentals always increasing, never decreasing, means any taxation based on rentals will inherently increase in direct relation & proportion (providing there are no alterations or upward adjustments to the rate, & that rate is not likely to remain at 3% indefinitely, it could even go up with the next ARV adjustment).
My issue isn't so much with the potential for lag time, but that's not to say that the delay between increases wouldn't be an issue. Because it will. When these increases are implemented, they will be in substantially larger steps as opposed to smaller increments due to that span of time between adjustments. So a property with a tax liability of $927/yr based on an ARV of $36K, would increase to $1458 when the ARV adjusted to $54K, provided the rate remains standard. That's a big, sudden jump, that some people may well not be able to facilitate, paarticularly the elderly that live in their homes & live on fixed incomes.

[sMASH]

U said separate apartments will be taxed separately.

Is that in one building the different apartments will be valued separately, or is that multiple buildings on the same piece of land that will be considered apartments?

[rspann]

Proton, seeing that the tenants are the ones enjoying the amenities which the property tax is purported to be used / needed for, wouldn't it be fair for them to pay it instead of the landlord just raising the rent( which they would have to pay) and making a profit?

[ProtonPowder]

As for raised rents affecting ARV calculations, is very possible, but the COV would have to adjust that, and that would take years to do. Is 2009 rates being used right now for this. It will always have a serious lag time.

Not only is it possible, it's the planned intention. it's actually one of the primary reasons that the ARV is used as the basis for calculation., because the trend of rentals always increasing, never decreasing, means any taxation based on rentals will inherently increase in direct relation & proportion (providing there are no alterations or upward adjustments to the rate, & that rate is not likely to remain at 3% indefinitely, it could even go up with the next ARV adjustment).
My issue isn't so much with the potential for lag time, but that's not to say that the delay between increases wouldn't be an issue. Because it will. When these increases are implemented, they will be in substantially larger steps as opposed to smaller increments due to that span of time between adjustments. So a property with a tax liability of $927/yr based on an ARV of $36K, would increase to $1458 when the ARV adjusted to $54K, provided the rate remains standard. That's a big, sudden jump, that some people may well not be able to facilitate, paarticularly the elderly that live in their homes & live on fixed incomes.

What you said is true, but then it becomes a political issue, same as raising WASA and T&TEC rates. These are all organisations with their own hierarchies and heads, but answer to a minister that give prime directives at the end of the day. And they must all balance how badly they want to increase taxation and utility rates versus how much support they stand to lose.

Then we wrap back into territory of sheit flinging over eating grass.

[ProtonPowder]

U said separate apartments will be taxed separately.

Is that in one building the different apartments will be valued separately, or is that multiple buildings on the same piece of land that will be considered apartments?

The answer is yes to both of those situations, all separately.

Proton, seeing that the tenants are the ones enjoying the amenities which the property tax is purported to be used / needed for, wouldn't it be fair for them to pay it instead of the landlord just raising the rent( which they would have to pay) and making a profit?

That is between landlord and tenant, it can be inclusive or exclusive of rent just like utilities. It will work out better for the tenant if they themselves pay, that way they wont be scalped by their landlord.

[ProtonPowder]

And what about unlivable houses that are being lived in?

Like something only fit for demolition? Most likely documents wont have been submitted in the first place. For now is just people who submitted that being called.

But if they did happen to submit, they might be assessed with those same negative modifiers i mentioned earlier. In most of those cases the rental value for the vacant land would be higher than the building, so the tax should be calculated for the land alone.

The fun part would be defining unlivable, every supervisor and the commissioner would have a different idea of the concept of 'capable of beneficial occupation.'

[bluefete]

ProtonPowder:

Just wanted to say thanks for the info you are sharing with us.

It is much more enlightening than what Imbutt gave us.

[sMASH]

Thanks,,,

[ProtonPowder]

No scene fellas, I happy to answer the questions from what I know so far

[nightcrawler]

where have property tax forms?

[ProtonPowder]

https://www.finance.gov.tt/wp-content/u ... sessor.pdf

Vacancies btw

[rspann]

I wonder how long before the assessors take a small thing to put down wrong info?

[The_Honourable]

On a radio program this evening, Growley said property tax should start from September

[shake d livin wake d dead]

On a radio program this evening, Growley said property tax should start from September

this year or next year

[88sins]

On a radio program this evening, Growley said property tax should start from September

yup, September 31st to be exact

[zoom rader]

On a radio program this evening, Growley said property tax should start from September

yup, September 31st to be exact

Should?
Has this been passed and made legal?

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Welcome back zr

[88sins]

missed it by that much eh zr

[ProtonPowder]

On a radio program this evening, Growley said property tax should start from September

this year or next year

Even with the second batch they about to hire, next year at the soonest. They talking nonsense... yet again