BANGKOK: The Finance Ministry has decided to divide the maximum rates of the land and buildings tax from the previous proposal and offer a higher layer of tax exemption to soothe anxious homeowners and landlords.
The new proposed ceiling rates are 0.25% for land for agricultural use, down from 0.5% previously, 0.5% for residential use, down from 1%, and 2% for commercial use, dropping from 4%. Unused or vacant land will be charged at 0.5% and double every three years but not exceed a maximum level of 2% of the appraised value. The ministry previously set the ceiling rate for unused land at 4%. Cutting the maximum rates of the land and buildings tax aims to allay taxpayers’ worries, finance permanent secretary Rungson Sriworasat told a seminar hosted by Thammasat University yesterday.
He insisted the effective tax rates would be well below the maximum levels and the ministry would later issue an organic law stipulating the effective tax rates. The tax exemption is part of the Finance Ministry’s measures to help alleviate the financial burden of the poor. Public land and buildings, non-profit assets of the Crown Property Bureau, land and property of the Thai Red Cross and the UN, cemeteries and embassy’s premises are not subject to the tax.
