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Post by tourist on Jun 28, 2011 12:00:31 GMT 1
I have been advised by my accountant to close my company as I do no business.
I have to sell my house to myself and the accountant quotes RETT to pay of between 5,300 Euros and 8,000 Euros dependant on what the tax office decides, valuation now or valuation when I bought the house in 2005.
Has anyone any experience of this recently?
I am concerned that the tax office could put some absurd valuation on this property and leave me with a very high tax bill.
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Post by Carol on Jun 28, 2011 12:12:10 GMT 1
your concerns are valid. they will base it on the value at the time of the sale, but I do not think the tax office are aware that prices have stopped rising so it won't be anything like a price you could actually get in a sale in 2011 (or even in 2007)
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Post by tourist on Jun 28, 2011 12:30:27 GMT 1
Carol, Thanks for that, my place is on Ciovo near to you. I have a copy of 'Bruto Bilanca' for the period 1.1.2011 to 31.12.2011 giving property and land prices. This gives RETT at 5,170 Euro and I would be happy with that but in the past I bought a boat locally and the tax office revalued it and made me pay extra tax. This made me wary of the property valuation that could be coming. My accountant tells me I cannot stop the closing of company once it has started, and this also rang alarm bells as to what stage of procedings I will be informed of the actual valuation. I do not think the tax office valuation will take into account the high number of properties for sale.
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Post by Carol on Jun 28, 2011 12:36:10 GMT 1
You will be under Trogir and I am Kastela, so the people will be different. However, what is happening is the local tax offices are desperately collecting revenues and RETT is a bit of a blank cheque as they get to decide the value and then take 5% of it. Some of the valuations i have seen have been absurd - higher than the peak of the market. You can appeal but you will bring the wrath of the tax office down upon yourself (so maybe best that this will happen once your company is already closed). Just make sure that you are getting all mail sent to you regularly and keep asking the tax office for the bill because if you miss it then you will have a big bill + penalties to pay. The law has changed so that they don't have to deliver the bill to you, only send it twice and after that you will be too late to appeal and into the late payment fines.
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Post by Ribaric on Jun 28, 2011 12:41:05 GMT 1
This is a position we have all become accustomed to.... powerless and at the mercy of officials. Frankly, the tax people in thre UK, in my experience, are exactly the same in that they are convinced I'm up to no good.
When the tax people showed up at my house to evaluate it, they wouldn't take a coffee, juice, nothing. They asked me how much I'd paid, so I told them the truth. They were so relieved as they are accustomed to hearing cock-and-bull stories about paying peanuts for properties. They viewed me as an honest broker and didn't quibble about the difference between the original cost and it's current value (considerably higher). Once they had relaxed, the coffee flowed and I got to hear stories about how "everybody" tries to cheat them and treat them like idiots.
It would seem to be a good policy.
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Post by ray51 on Jun 28, 2011 14:31:22 GMT 1
In such respects , U.K. is among the fairest places I've ever been to , like Canada , Sweden , maybe South Africa too ; of course , Emirates , Hong Kong and others have no such issues whatsoever ! but , once you make the huge mistake of living in the EU , the endless and condemning Kafkaesque bureaucracy can be maddening ! Too many guys who do not much else but trying to extract crazy taxes , by whichever means - for which they get paid , over the odds ; and all the banks and similar institution happily cooperate , as they get a cut of any tax deducted , reported or payable . Ergo : a simple bloke is hit with the possible maximum tax/es , by which the the tax-officials are well-sustained and well-paid to remain focused , on how to make you pay further maximum tax/es . Some of this , maybe , goes to officials in the government , too ( Belgium hasn't had one for well over 365 days now ) , and a lot goes to wasteful EU-bureaucracy and so on ; the capital roads remain unrepaired , the police is undermanned , post offices mostly closed , at the bank you have to do everything yourself at the electronic device ... As Benny and Bjorn write some 30 years ago , and as sung beautifully by Agnetha and Frida : What's the name of the game ?
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Post by crojoe on Jun 28, 2011 15:20:01 GMT 1
I have been advised by my accountant to close my company as I do no business. I have to sell my house to myself and the accountant quotes RETT to pay of between 5,300 Euros and 8,000 Euros dependant on what the tax office decides, valuation now or valuation when I bought the house in 2005. Has anyone any experience of this recently? I am concerned that the tax office could put some absurd valuation on this property and leave me with a very high tax bill. You do not want to close your company, it will cost thousands. Just make it dormant or find someone who wants to take it over legally (don't have any property attached to it, loans, debts or full of cash). Ha!
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Post by tourist on Jun 28, 2011 15:51:48 GMT 1
Thanks to all for info.....
Crojoe, the company is 'dormant' in that I do no business. But I still have to have accounts, the accountant is 1,000 Euros/year, the Croatian Business/Tourist clan take about 250 Euro, I pay business rates on water, etc, it all gets expensive.
I have seen figures of 10,000 Euros quoted on other threads but I have been told approx 1,300 Euros to close the business. Hope I am not being led the wrong way here.
Even to sell the company for zero I would have to buy the house, this being the problem as I could be stitched up as I was with my boat.
It would seem that the highest rate of tax would be if the tax office deemed I should pay RETT on the price of the property as paid in 2005 (on the contract) This in Kuna in 2005 is more than today owing to the vast difference in currency rates. But even that is not assured.
I just hope I can get a valuation before I commit to closing the company.
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Post by crojoe on Jun 28, 2011 17:10:46 GMT 1
Thanks to all for info..... Crojoe, the company is 'dormant' in that I do no business. But I still have to have accounts, the accountant is 1,000 Euros/year, the Croatian Business/Tourist clan take about 250 Euro, I pay business rates on water, etc, it all gets expensive. I have seen figures of 10,000 Euros quoted on other threads but I have been told approx 1,300 Euros to close the business. Hope I am not being led the wrong way here. Even to sell the company for zero I would have to buy the house, this being the problem as I could be stitched up as I was with my boat. It would seem that the highest rate of tax would be if the tax office deemed I should pay RETT on the price of the property as paid in 2005 (on the contract) This in Kuna in 2005 is more than today owing to the vast difference in currency rates. But even that is not assured. I just hope I can get a valuation before I commit to closing the company. Well, do tell us how you get along, if in actual fact the price to close a company is only 1500 euros, as so few people actually do it, so it might all be in the "mind" that it costs thousands.
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Post by Carol on Jun 28, 2011 18:02:30 GMT 1
If you sell your flat to yourself for less than the company bought it, and therefore the company has a debt to you which it cannot pay, then you could make the company bankrupt which apparently is quicker and cheaper than closing it.
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Post by dolphina on Jun 30, 2011 18:07:54 GMT 1
Can someone explain exactly what RETT is?
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Post by Carol on Jun 30, 2011 21:19:42 GMT 1
real estate transfer tax (i.e. stamp duty) It is 5% of the value of the property at the time of the sale (and the value is estimated by the tax officer not by how much the contract says it changed hands for)
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Post by propertymanagement on Jul 7, 2011 21:58:49 GMT 1
we've done this for some of our clients (transferring the title from company to private ownership). No way to avoid RETT ... it is always 5% of its "real value" .... the fees for liquidating the company are, as someone said, around 1.500 Euro ... but it takes minimum 18 months before it's all done.
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gramand
Full Member
[M0:0]Croatia what a wonderful place to be
Posts: 65
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Post by gramand on Jul 14, 2011 12:57:43 GMT 1
I think we have been through this in several other threads. It is not easy to close your company. Are you registered for PDV? Even if you are not it can still be a problem as the transaction of the company selling the house to you (and it must be a real transaction as I am lead to understand it, with money changing hands via the HNB) will put you in the PDV band so who would want to hand over 23% of the house value let alone the RETT at 5%
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Post by cropal on Jul 15, 2011 9:22:25 GMT 1
Can anyone clarify the PDV issue raised above? It was my understanding that PDV was not charged on the sale of a property once the amount of PDV claimed on the property over the period of it's ownership was a low percentage (less than 50%) of the total sale value of the property?
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