Buyer of “new construction” – complete the return and pay the transfer tax

Transfer of ownership is specified in the sale and purchase agreement. In the case of new property (as defined by law), ownership is transferred when the building has been completed and you have paid the price in full.

In the case of a sale-and-purchase contract of ‘new construction’ as defined by law, the usual deadline for submitting the transfer tax return form and paying the tax is 2 months from the date when ownership rights are passed on to the buyer.

However, when a residential building is still unfinished and the company in charge of constructing it is in bankruptcy, and there is no commitment by the bankruptcy estate to continue with the construction work, you the buyer can either cancel the contract or assume responsibility for finishing the construction work. If you opt to deal with the construction work, please note that the deadline dates for transfer tax will come sooner.

If you cancel the contract

If your decision is to cancel the contract entirely, it requires no transfer tax return to be submitted and no tax to be paid.

If you continue with the unfinished construction work

If instead you decide to continue constructing the residential house or building, your requirement to submit a transfer tax return and pay the transfer tax gets an earlier deadline date. This is because the right of ownership is now transferred to you at an earlier date, compared to the original contract you had signed for purchasing the ‘new construction’. In this case, the counting of time for the transfer-tax deadline is no longer based on the date indicated by that contract.

Start date for the counting of time depends on whether you already paid the contract price in full: you may have paid it already, or there may still be an instalment that you need to remit to the bankruptcy estate.

1. In the latter case, the date when you pay the contract price in full to the construction company’s bankruptcy estate will be the start date for the counting of time.
2. In addition, if your paid-in amounts, at the time when bankruptcy begins, make up a higher sum than the true value of the housing-company shares you are buying, the counting of time starts from the date when your option to cancel the contract expired.
3. Correspondingly, if you paid the contract price in full, the counting of time starts the date when your option to cancel the contract expired.

Which amount is the base for the transfer tax?

If you assume responsibility for constructing and finishing the unfinished building, you must pay an amount equalling the value, at the time when bankruptcy begins, of the housing-company shares that you bought. The unfinished building’s fair market value depends on its percentage of completion.

After the following calculations are conducted, the base of the tax can be determined:

• Sum of money paid to the construction company so far (typically, there are some instalments already paid, and others still unpaid)
• Add the sum of money, if any, paid to the bankruptcy estate
• Add the part of the housing company’s debt, which is attributed to the shares you are buying, and which you already paid for by the date of transfer of ownership
• Subtract the part of the housing company’s debt attributed to the shares you are buying, still remaining unpaid at the date of transfer of ownership

If you believe that you paid too much transfer tax, you can submit a transfer-tax refund application. Fill in a calculation outlining the amount of transfer tax that you should have paid, including clear reasoning of your position.

Here’s how to ask for refund of a paid transfer tax.

If you submit the transfer tax return late, the Tax Administration may impose a late-filing penalty or punitive tax increase. If you do not pay your transfer tax on time, you must pay interest. Read more about transfer tax return or payments that are overdue.

If you need to make corrections to the information you submitted, submit a replacement. You can do this in MyTax or send a paper transfer tax return that replaces your original return. In this case, you must not only correct the mistakes but also complete the other spaces on the form again.

How to make corrections to a transfer tax return in MyTax

If you submit a replacement on paper, remember to tick the “Replacement transfer tax return” box on the first page.

Note: if you submit the replacement past the deadline date for transfer taxes, the Tax Administration may impose a late-filing penalty or punitive tax increase.

If by this time, you already paid the transfer tax, look up the specific guide for correcting payment and the submitted return.

Transfer taxation has only been handled in MyTax as of 8 November 2019. In MyTax, you can see:

• Any returns and notices you have submitted in MyTax.
• Any paper transfer tax returns you have submitted after 1 November 2019 on paper forms released at that time or later. In general, there is always a delay before a paper return becomes available for viewing in MyTax.

When you have used a transfer tax return, a certificate of your transfer tax will be stored in MyTax for viewing after both the return and the payment have been recorded in the Tax Administration’s data system. Finding the certificate in MyTax

If the housing-company shares are the type that entitle you to start living in a flat of the housing company, hand the certificate over to the building manager. This enables the building manager to enter your name in the list of shareholders.

If a realtor assists you when you buy the shares in a housing company, you will receive the certificate proving the payment of the transfer tax from the realtor (the estate agent’s office). MyTax does not contain the certificate if the realtor issued it. In the case of “new construction”, if you bought the shares for a newly built flat, you must submit the transfer tax return independently. After you have done that, the certificate will be stored in MyTax for viewing.

Older tax returns

You cannot view the return in MyTax if you submitted it before November 2019, with the old paper form. Please do not re-submit the return. If you need a copy of such a return, i.e. the one with a stamp on, please call the service number on +35829 497 022 (transfer taxes); sometimes the superintendent of a housing company may demand that you show a stamped form.

When a residential building of a housing company is located on a rented lot with an option to buy, shareholders can choose from 2 options:

The shareholder can: 

• Pay monthly rent for the land lot to the housing company
• Pay off the designated share of the land (=redemption)

After payment, the housing company can purchase that share from the plot owner.  After the shareholder has redeemed the part of the plot this way, the shareholder no longer pays rent.

The date when payment for the plot can be sent is the date of completion or specific later dates to be announced by the building management. In some housing companies, the shareholder is only entitled to partial redemption of the plot’s designated share.

There is no need for the shareholder to complete a transfer tax return or pay transfer tax

To pay off the plot share is voluntary. It is not part of the purchase contract of housing-company shares to send the payment at all. In addition, usually the seller of the shares and the owner of the plot are not the same person or company. Accordingly, any payment an individual shareholder may make in order to pay for the plot will go to the plot owner, not to the seller.

As a result, when a shareholder carries out a redemption of the designated part of the plot, it is not a transaction that would require the filing and payment of transfer tax. The time when the redemption is carried out is not important, i.e. it may be when construction is completed or at a later date.

Transfer tax accounted and paid for by the housing company

If the housing company purchases a designated share of the lot where its residential building is located, it must file a transfer tax return to the Tax Administration and pay the transfer tax accordingly. In addition, the housing company must apply to the National Land Survey for registration of title.

Typically, the housing company presents an invoice to the shareholders containing this transfer tax as added to the price of the shareholders’ land. From the shareholder’s perspective, when he or she has paid the housing company’s invoice, it does not mean that the shareholder has paid transfer tax. Instead, the shareholder is only treated as having paid the amount necessary for redeeming the land.

First, do not forget to complete the tax return and pay the transfer tax accordingly.

Because your housing company is in the new Property Information System, you must submit an application for registration of your ownership to the National Land Survey. The National Land Survey will get the information confirming your payment of the tax automatically, so there is no need to show a paper certificate to your building manager.

Read more about the new system.