The tax rules on real property are set out in this law. First, Article 30 provides: “The tax on buildings, plots and land whose disposition is restricted by laws or other legislation establishing public order shall be collected at a rate of 1/10 for as long as the restriction continues. The provisions of Articles 9 and 19 are reserved.” This provision establishes an exception to tax collection.
Article 19 contains a special provision on the tax on land whose disposition is restricted.
“The tax on land whose disposition has been prohibited under authority granted by law shall not be collected, for as long as these circumstances continue, starting from the installments following the date of the prohibition, once the taxpayer has notified the tax office of the situation or the tax office has determined it on its own initiative.”
Buildings are dealt with in Article 9. Since our subject is land, however, we have not discussed that provision.
What is land whose disposition is restricted?
Land whose disposition is restricted under Article 2 of the REGULATION ON BUILDINGS, PLOTS AND LAND WHOSE DISPOSITION IS RESTRICTED
“Plots on which construction is not permitted, and buildings for which substantial alterations and additions are not permitted, because they have been allocated in zoning plans to official buildings and facilities or to public services such as schools, mosques, roads, squares, parking lots, green areas, playgrounds, marketplaces, wholesale markets, slaughterhouses and the like, are deemed restricted in disposition. In these cases, restricted taxation applies from the beginning of the year following the date on which the zoning plan becomes final. The restriction continues until the area where the plot or building is located is included in the zoning program (until the date on which the zoning program becomes final). If the allocation of the plot in the zoning plan to purposes requiring the restriction has not been identified through the notification requirement in Article 5 of this regulation, the restriction is applied on the same principles once the owner of the plot or building applies in writing to the administration that imposed the restriction and presents the resulting document showing the restricted status to the office authorized to assess the tax.”
This is a rule based on the zoning plan.
Article 5. Within two months of the publication of this regulation, and of the notification to them of decisions subsequently taken by the High Council or the Regional Councils for the Protection of Immovable Cultural and Natural Assets, municipalities are required to notify the office authorized to assess real estate tax of the cadastral and zoning map sheet, block and parcel numbers of the places referred to in Articles 2 to 4 that lie within the municipal boundaries and, where applicable, the adjacent area boundaries, together with the names, surnames and addresses of their owners if known.
In places outside municipal and adjacent area boundaries, governorships perform this duty within the same time limit and under the same procedures and principles.
In its decision (Council of State Assembly of Tax Law Chambers, Docket No. 1993/88, Decision No. 1994/89, dated January 28, 1994), the Council of State held that no tax can be assessed on land whose disposition is restricted. It emphasized that, under Article 5 of the regulation, the information on the property must be provided by the unit that imposed the restriction, and it stated that the property owner bears no responsibility in this respect.
