When buying any property, you are required to pay a tax on the acquisition of immovable property. Have you found a new building or property that is under 5 years old? Then you can be exempt from this tax. Beware, however, there are exceptions where this exemption can not be applied.
What are the conditions and what needs to be verified
1 / Check the age of the new building - the first purchase of the property must take place within 5 years from when it can be used. The exemption applies not only to the purchase of a new building as such but, for example, in the case of a transfer of the cooperative property to personal ownership or in the case of a transfer of the dwelling unit, resulting from the construction or extension. In all cases, however, a 5-year period has elapsed since the possibility of using it.
2 / Verify that the property was not used - if the owner demonstrably used the property for its purpose or rented it for more than 48 hours before the first real estate transfer, then the buyer will have to pay the tax on the acquisition of the property. Here I recommend reviewing not only the history of the property but also the buyer insisting on the provisions in the sales contract in which the seller declares that the subject of the transfer is new and has not been used yet.
3 / New building - exempt from the tax on the acquisition of immovable property are, apart from the new building itself, also the land, which includes the construction of the family house. However, this applies only to the parcels on which the new building is situated, not to the surrounding land, such as the garden, the courtyard, the driveway and the like. You must pay the purchase tax from the surrounding land.
4 / Warehouse or non-residential premises - immovable property not intended for housing or purchased together with the purpose of housing is not exempt. In the case of the purchase of, for example, a non-residential unit (warehouse) the use of which is not connected to or part of a dwelling unit, the buyer will be obliged to pay the acquisition tax.
5 / Purchase of a flat located in a family house - we are talking about a real estate that is legally divided into a maximum of 3 dwelling units. By default, buying a house is exempt from the obligation to pay a tax on the first transfer, similar to buying an apartment in a house that has more than 3 dwelling units. If the house is divided into 3 housing units and the seller divides it separately by the owner's declaration, it will not be possible to apply the exemption from the purchase tax on the sale of these dwellings.
Beware of the sales contract
To qualify for the exemption, you need to adjust the purchase agreement. If your future property meets the above, ask for the purchase price to be divided into two parts in the purchase contract. The first part of the purchase price will include items exempt from the acquisition tax, ie a separate new building and a parcel of which the new building is a part. The second part will no longer be exempt and will include the remaining land, such as a garden or other parcels, which are not a direct part of the new building.
How much you save
The amount you save can vary each time. Acquisition tax is calculated from 75% of its value. However, you can decide whether the amount will be calculated from the purchase price or from the exchange value. This is the value determined by the tax office based on the type, location and character of the property. If the amount determined by the tax office does not suit you, you can use the expert's report to compare it. If you decide to do so, you must first ask the tax office and provide the report. You can then deduct the cost of doing it from the tax base.