Page 31 - IRANRptSep20

6.1.1​ Budget dynamics - tax issues, revenues
Iranian parliament approves “empty home” tax
Iran’s parliament, the Majlis, has approved revisions to Article 54 of the Direct Tax Code with an eye on moving on to the market thousands of empty apartments and other homes including villas across the country, IRNA reported.
Lawmakers want a fee to be charged on empty homes to encourage owners and property speculators to at least rent them out. In Tehran alone, entire blocks are unpopulated, with owners often choosing to leave new apartments empty as a selling point, hoping to earn more money from an unused flat rather than a used one.
As part of the legislative amendment, empty homes in towns and cities with a population of over 100,000 will be taxed after four months based on their assessed monthly rental income tax.
As further leverage to prompt market change, owners of empty properties will be charged six times more than the standard rental price in the first year if the property is not rented or sold.
If the property is not offloaded by year two, the owner will be charged 12 times the average rental cost, and the chare moves up 18 to times the rental income in the third year.
The rules also stipulate that builders have 12 months from the point the municipality signs off the building as constructed to sell their property without the added tax.
The government’s new national homes database will be the basis of the system, with all homes required to be registered with one owner from the same family.
The system has also been designed in a way that should prevent families offloading properties to spouses or siblings.
The new rules do not seem to target localities on the Persian Gulf, such as Kish Island, or the Caspian Sea resorts in Iran which are strewn with second homes and seaside villas.
6.1.2​ Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
Iran to issue sukuk worth up to $217mn to fund oil and natural gas projects
Iran is planning to issue sukuk securities worth up to $217mn to fund oil and natural gas projects, the country’s official energy news portal SHANA reported on May 2.
Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri reportedly signed off on the decision to ahead with the issuance, authorised under the annual state budget. It will permit the oil, energy and industry ministries to issue sukuk—Islamic sharia-compliant bonds—with a value of up to Iranian rial (IRR) 35 trillion ($217mn at the free market exchange rate).
Foreign investors, including France’s Total, have withdrawn from Iran’s oil and gas industry since the US reimposed heavy sanctions on the Islamic Republic
31​ IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com