FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert has said the Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2024 will soften the impact of the payment of property taxes on the population. That will happen through measures such as extending the time for people to challenge the valuation of their residential properties as well as the time in which penalties will be imposed for failing to pay the tax. Imbert made those statements when he opened debate on the bill in the House of Representatives on Monday.

“This bill which is before the House today is designed to assist people. It is designed to soften the impact of property tax. It’s designed to give people more access to challenging a valuation (of a property) and it is simply designed to help people.”

Imbert reminded MPs of his statement in the House on March 15 on the intentions behind this bill. He made the statement after the public raised concerns about the suspension of property-tax payments and in the wake of complaints of the valuation of their properties being unfair.

Imbert said the regulations which allow indigent, elderly, or infirm people to apply to the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) for a deferral of property-tax payments were published on March 15. He also said an order to extend the time for people to object to valuations of their residential properties from 30 days to six months had been published.

Imbert said, compared to other countries, TT was unique in the number of ways people could challenge valuations of their residential properties. They include raising concerns with the Commissioner of Valuations, Valuations Tribunal, the BIR, the Tax Appeal Board, and the High Court.

Against that background, Imbert said, “It would have been quite easy for us to do nothing. But that is not how this government operates.”

The BIR, he continued, was on target to complete the delivery of notices of tax assessment to residential owners before March 31. “The BIR was quite automated in its process, generating as many as 15,000 notices per day. So they could have easily completed this exercise in a couple of weeks.”

But he reiterated that in light of the public’s concerns, the Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary has asked the BIR “just to hold their hand until we sort out these legislative amendments.

“The primary reason why the time period to issue notices of assessment is being extended is to deal with discrepancies in the valuations.”

Imbert said one of the benefits of the bill would be that if people received notices of valuations on their properties last November, they now have until April to challenge those valuations if they think they are unfair.

The bill, he continued, gives Government the opportunity “to now include in the Property Tax Act a provision where the time for doing anything... delivering notices of tax assessment... imposition of penalties... and so on... can now be extended, in the same way that it can be done under the Valuation of Land Act.”

Under this legislation, Imbert said, “There is a provision where the time period to challenge a valuation can b