Last day to pay your IPT

After November 15, unpaid IPT will be saddled with a penalty of 10 per cent on the tax, plus a pro-rata 4.75 per cent annual interest rate.

The vast majority of property owners reportedly settled their bills before the cut-off date of November 5 by which they were eligible for a special 10 per cent ‘early bird’ discount, offered by the Inland Revenue Department as an incentive for prompt payment.

The IRD has reportedly collected a little over €90m in IPT payments from some 200,000 property owners, far more than what the Troika of international lenders had projected would be collected and in line with the government’s pledge to raise about €120-130m to help pay down the public debt.

Tax authorities had warned homeowners who had not yet received their IPT form to get in touch with the IRD.

Chief Revenue officer Liana Charalambous said last month that they had completed sending out all IPT forms by post. She urged people who had not received them to show up in person at their nearest IRD office.

To pay online, people can enter their JCC reference number printed on the IPT tax return and pay with their credit cards.

Charalambous said they had tried to make the process as painless as possible through online payments and agreements with lenders.

People can pay through www.jccsmart.com or else through the Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, Alpha Bank Cyprus, Ethniki Bank (Cyprus), Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) Ltd, Emporiki Bank-Cyprus, USB Bank, and Eurobank (Cyprus). Taxpayers may also pay through their co-operative banks.

Those wishing to pay through a bank, should submit the IPT form, their identity card, and the amount of tax in cash or credit card, in the same way they would have to pay their road tax.

Properties valued under €12,500, at 1980 prices are exempt from IPT. For any property above the tax threshold, the IPT must be paid in full. The IPT is calculated on the sum of the properties registered under a person’s name with joint owners paying pro-rata.

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