The Malta Developers Association said today that its call for amendments to the law on the final withholding tax on property sales should come into force through legal notice, without awaiting Budget approval.
The MDA is proposing that an option for sellers to pay 35% tax on the profit of a property sale, rather than 12% on the value of the property, should be extended to also cover properties sold seven years after their last transfer.
MDA chairman Michael Falzon said that both the government and the opposition had voiced agreement with this proposal. Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had told the association that he would consider it for the Budget, but in view of its importance and the fact that the Budget might not be approved, the MDA felt the change could be made by legal notice.
At present sellers have a choice between 12% tax on the total value of a property deal or 35% tax on the profit, but only in cases where a property would have changed hands within seven years.
In other proposals the MDA proposed a one-year waiving of excise duty on property purchases by first-time buyers as a means of boosting the property market, which has slowed down.
Mr Falzon said that sales had declined and many people were no longer viewing property as an investment.
He said his association was calling for a lifting of restrictions on purchases by foreigners, such as the ban on foreigners renting their properties while they are unused.