Below are the most important opinions of the Ministry of Finance in the field of property tax, which were published in the previous period.
Property tax base for underground tank within the gas station
„…immovable property – underground fuel tanks within the station for supplying motor vehicles with fuel (hereinafter: underground fuel tanks within the “gas station”), intended for and directly serve retail trade of motor and other fuels, are not considered as storage or warehouse place in accordance with the provisions of Article 7, paragraph 4, point 8 of the Property Tax Law, irrespective of the fact that in the stations for supplying motor vehicles with fuel, due to the characteristics of the fuel (e.g. flammability and combustibility), it must be kept in a special (according to the prescribed standards) underground tanks built for it, and not in the same way as other goods in retail stores.
Also, underground fuel tanks within the “gas station” are not facilities referred to in Article 7, paragraph 8 of the Property Tax Law (cableways, roads, railways and other infrastructure facilities, as well as cable sewage and other underground building facilities in which the networks are located intended for the flow of water (for drinking, atmospheric, waste, etc.), water vapor, hot or boiling water for heating purposes and other needs of users, gas, oil and petroleum products, telecommunications, etc.) for which the property tax base, for taxpayers who keep books, is the book value on the last day of the business year in the year preceding the year for which the property tax is levied.
Therefore, the property tax base for underground fuel tanks within the “gas station”, which are intended for and directly serve retail trade of motor and other fuels, is the fair value (determined in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)) or the basis of property tax for these facilities, is the value determined by applying the elements of the useful area and the average price of the Office buildings and other construction facilities used for performing the activity.
Only when the local self-government unit by the November 30th of the current year has not published the acts determining the zones (including the most equipped zone) and the average prices of the Office buildings and other buildings used for performing the activity in the zone in which the concrete underground fuel tanks within the “gas station” are located or in the zone that is most equipped (where applicable), the property tax base is the value of underground fuel tanks within the “gas station”, which is recorded in the business books of the taxpayer on the last day of the business year in the current year.
Having in mind that, in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Property Tax Law, the useful surface of the building is the sum of the floor surfaces between the inside of the outer walls of the building (excluding the surfaces of the balcony, terrace, loggia, unadapted attic spaces and spaces in the common indivisible property of all owners of economically divisible entireties within the same facility), in our opinion, the useful surface of the underground fuel tank within the station for supplying motor vehicles with fuel, whose surface of the lower base is horizontal, makes the surface of this base between the inner sides of the outer walls of the tank. If the object is of a spherical or other shape so there is no so-called floor area, we consider that the useful surface of this object is determined according to the surface of its vertical projection on the ground.”
(Opinion of the Ministry of Finance, No. 430-00-00231/2018-04 dated 15.5.2018.)
Non-existence of the property tax liability for a part of an object that is not capable of being used
“… if a house is an object that is uniquely usable – economic entirety qualified for normal use only at one of the two construction levels, whereby the second level is not capable of being used because it does not have the usual installations and equipment necessary for that part the facility to be used (for example, there are no electric and plumbing installations, there is no built-in joinery, there is no access staircase…) and the use of this construction level is not actually enabled or started, nor is the use permit for this facility issued, in our opinion, the property tax liability for that part was not incurred.“
(Opinion of the Ministry of Finance, No. 413-00-00107/2018-04 dated 11.6.2018.)