Amendments to the budget measures implementation bill affecting the workings of the property transfer tax will introduce further exceptions to the new 8% final rate and stipulate a retroactive cutoff date. However, the advice given by notaries during the past months was incorrect, because they were not properly informed by authorities.

In a press statement published today, the Notarial Council has expressed its disappointment for not being consulted or informed about a set of amendments to the budget Measures implementation bill, this time affecting technical issues in working out the tax on property transference, which were put forward at Committee Stage on the eve of the bill’s promulgation.

The council said that while it is not within its remit to discuss fiscal policy or choice of taxation method, it is high time that the government recollects that notaries are public officers and an extension of state and therefore should be allowed to participate in the technical discussions on such issues.

The council said that it has not been allowed to give a proper reply to potential sellers or buyers when these enquire about their final tax liability on any given transfer, due to the number of radical changes. Only hints of such changes were given during the budget speech, but the measures were published as a bill and promulgated into law.

The council said that notaries are still held liable for any miscalculation of tax due and are fined and penalized should they fail to include one of the declarations imposed by the new amendments. It said that numerous ‘grey areas’ continue to emerge in the day-day implementation of the measures introduced which were not properly identified and addressed before the act passed. If it was involved in the consultation process, the council could have helped iron out such issues.

“What was initially intended as a simplification process has now ended up in a complex set of different rates and exceptions, because amendments were introduced without due consideration from a technical, legal and practical point of view,” the release said.

Concluding, the council said it will seek to guarantee ultimate certainty for all those involved.