The government on 27 February 2023 launched an internet consultation on a draft bill to abolish the property transfer tax concurrence exemption for share transactions.
Comments on the draft bill are due 27 March 2023.
Background
Value added tax (VAT) is, in principle, automatically payable on direct supplies of new immovable property and/or building land for VAT purposes (the current VAT rate is 21%). For property transfer tax purposes, an exemption in principle applies for the acquisition of this immovable property: the concurrence exemption.
Draft bill
The draft bill would address this undesirable situation by making the acquisition of a qualifying shareholding (>1/3) in a real estate entity with new immovable property and/or building land for VAT purposes subject to property transfer tax as of 1 January 2024 (the current property transfer tax rate is 10.4%).
Source: KPMG
