While regular folk are griping about the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the income tax, it would be good to remember there are other taxes that need to be paid.
Taxes that the erstwhile owners of some 200 plots of land in Selangor evidently forgot all about.
The Petaling Land and District Office has revealed that the Selangor state government has had to reclaim 200 land titles in the past two years due to unpaid property taxes, under a mandate set by Section 100 of the National Land Code.
Assistant District Officer in charge of revenue, Mohd Nurunnajmi Amat Janji told Sinar Harian that his department resorted to seizures only after several warnings and reminders were given to landowners.
According to Nurunnajmi, landowners would be served a Final Claim Notice (6A) and a Notice 8A, as reminders to pay up their outstanding taxes, before the state government would move to confiscate land deeds and place them under the state’s purview.
Over the past 20 years, the total amount of unpaid property tax in the Petaling district alone came up to a value of RM172 million.
“Our investigations show that the main cause of landowners not settling their taxes was not that they lacked the funds to do so, but because of real estate handover issues with the lots’ previous owners,” Nurunnajmi said.
“For example, a plot of land would be registered under the name of the property developer, but when it was purchased, a proper transfer of ownership from developer to tenant was not carried out. This results in the new owner not even knowing of any outstanding taxes on the property he owns.”
Selangor state Speaker and Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh said that landownders should not fall back on the excuse that they don’t receive a tax bill for ther properties.
“If you don’t receive a bill, you can just head down to the Land Office and check your status,” she said.
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