Appraisal of 32m land plots ready in 2017

Appraisal of 32m land plots ready in 2017

Sums needed to enact land and buildings tax

A bird's-eye view of Chiang Mai province. The Treasury Department has hired outside advisers to help expedite the appraisal of land plots across the country, set to be completed by next year. Thiti Wannamontha
A bird's-eye view of Chiang Mai province. The Treasury Department has hired outside advisers to help expedite the appraisal of land plots across the country, set to be completed by next year. Thiti Wannamontha

The Treasury Department projects the appraisal of 32 million plots of land across the country will be completed by next year.

The completion of the appraisals, based on individual plots, paves the way for implementation of the land and buildings tax.

Only 18.6 million land plots are being appraised individually, leaving 13.4 million plots to be evaluated on a block basis, said Chakkrit Parapantakul, director-general of the Treasury Department.

To accelerate the land appraisal process, the department has hired outside advisers to help, he said, adding that the department was also training its officials around the country on how to appraise land under the new property tax.

A draft bill on the land and buildings tax is now under the State of Council's review, after which it will be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly for approval.

When it comes into effect, the tax will be levied on first homes and land used for agricultural purposes with appraisal prices starting at 50 million baht, with the rate applied to the value exceeding 50 million.

The tax will also apply to second homes on a progressive basis, from 0.03% to 0.30%.

The bill sets ceiling rates of 0.2% of appraisal value for land used for agricultural purposes, 0.5% for residences, 2% for commercial use and 5% for vacant or undeveloped land.

For vacant or undeveloped land, the tax rate will be imposed at 1% for land left vacant or unused for one to three years, 2% for four to six years and 3% for more than seven years.

The Finance Ministry earlier said that the new property tax, which will come into force next year, will generate 64 billion baht annually for local development. Of the total, 60 billion baht will be generated from commercial buildings and land, and 4 billion from residences.

In another development, Mr Chakkrit said the department was helping state land tenants understand that its planned rental rate increase will be in line with current market realities.

The increased rate will only be applicable to commercial tenants, while the Treasury Department is considering cutting or waiving rental fees for small farmers.

The rental rate hike, set to come into effect next year, will help boost the department's income by billions of baht.

He said that the Treasury Department was surveying which rented state land was being misused, adding it would be recalled and reallocated for the benefit of the economy, in line with Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak's policy.

At present, the Treasury Department has around 170,000 rental contracts for state land, with only a fraction of them being used for commercial purposes.

Separately, Mr Chakkrit said demand for commemorative coins related to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej remained high. In order to distribute them to the greatest number of people, the number of coins in each pack will be reduced from five to three.

Around 1 million commemorative coins were left in the Treasury Department's inventory he said, adding that the department has no plans to mint more.

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