NRIs can rest assured, Kerala will not impose tax on vacant houses

Finance minister K N Balagopal told the Assembly on Wednesday that the government was not planning to go ahead with the Budget proposal to tax houses left vacant either by non-resident Keralites or residents who have more than one houses.

"It was only a proposal sent to the local self governments. There is no move to implement the tax now," the minister said. The proposed tax on vacant houses had invited widespread criticism, especially from the non-residents. It was felt that this would badly hurt non-resident Malayalis working in less-paying jobs in the Gulf and European countries. The minister, too, admitted that he had received many petitions from the non-residents.
The proposal was mooted as part of the LDF Government's move to revise the property tax structure that had been left untouched for quite long. In his February 3 speech, the minister said that the government intended to introduce a proper method of taxation of multiple

ownership of houses by a single individual and newly

constructed houses which are not put to any use. He said a comprehensive revision of these would

be taken up by the Local Self Government Department.
On Wednesday, the Minister told the House that the move had been put on hold.
Current municipality and panchayat rules allow total waiver of property tax (vacancy remission) on vacant houses. There were reports that the government was planning an amendment to the rules to introduce a vacant tax.
Local bodies in Kerala collect property tax on a half-yearly basis during the periods April 1 to September 30 and October 1 to March 31. Owners of vacant houses can submit applications to their local bodies. A vacancy remission is granted based on the report submitted by the revenue inspectors after site inspections.
As per the latest data with the LSG Department, there are 18 lakh vacant houses across Kerala.