|
Matthew Vella
Malta’s notaries are refusing to comply with orders from the Commissioner for Inland Revenue over the registration of capital gains tax, after complaining that the new forms they had to complete were “too complex”.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s replacement of the 35 per cent tax on profits over property sales, with a final withholding tax of 12 per cent on the value of the property itself, has only made notaries more impatient with their new role of having to work out the maths for the new system.
A transitional period currently governs acquisitions registered under a promise-of-sale agreement up to 20 November, 2005, before Gonzi’s announced changes to the law during last year’s budget. This left persons within this category the choice of paying tax either under the capital gains system, or the new system.
The Notarial Council has responded with a simple directive ordering notaries not to fill in the new forms and to keep paying any taxation according to the system before the new forms were introduced.
Council president Joseph Saydon said the action was prompted by the lack of consultation with the notarial council after the Commissioner for Inland Revenue refused to acknowledge communication sent by the council.
“The new law has made the registration of tax very complex. But it has imposed upon notaries the role of tax consultants, whereas before we would just collect the tax due,” Saydon said.
“Apart from the complexity of having several forms for each different form of property transfer, notaries now carry the onus of having to ensure that the way the new tax has been calculated by sellers is indeed correct.”
Saydon said the only form of consultation with the Commissioner for Inland Revenue was a discussion during a seminar.
“We sent him a list of complex cases the new law had brought upon, but we did not receive a positive response. Notaries are private practitioners, not civil servants – and we cannot be ordered about just like civil servants.”
Earlier this week, the council and the Commissioner for Inland Revenue held a four-hour meeting in which it was agreed to organise a working group over the issue.
“The directive is still in force,” Saydon said.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
|
