Real property owners urged to be honest in declaring assets

April 28, 2018 Metro BLISTT

The city assessor encouraged owners of real properties to register and declare their properties to avoid penalties.
City assessor Ma. Almaya Adawe said that as the property owners, they have the obligation to voluntarily declare their real property for appraisal, assessment and for proper taxation.
She said individuals who declared their property but failed to pay their taxes are asked to do the same.
“As an owner of the property, we have the obligation to declare our real properties for assessment so that we can pay our taxes on time. This is also to prevent bigger problems that may cause us greater loss in the future,” Adawe explained.
She said that some Baguio residents are now very reluctant to declare their properties to avoid paying taxes. She also cited that some instances that a property was transferred through sale but the seller does not want to pay transfer and capital gain tax.
Adawe said that the city has a total land area of 57. 49 square kilometers but due to multiple registration of land, the city exceeded its declared land area by 25%.
“We have to use different tools to discover these unregistered structures and properties, not only for proper tax collection but also to cleanse our records from multiple declaration. We have reached 72. 62 (25% increase) square kilometers because of multiple registration,” she explained.
To better their services, the city assessor’s office partnered with the City Engineering and Building Architecture Office (CEBAO) for the list of all buildings and properties that were given occupancy permits for visitation.
Last January, the city government of Baguio gave 20% discount to the early tax payers while 15% and 10% discounts were given in February and March, respectively. Meanwhile, those who fail to pay their taxes during the scheduled months will be penalized.
“We would like to remind our constituents to come and declare real property and pay their taxes,” Adawe reiterated. All properties whether for residential, commercial, industrial, religious, education, land or machineries, used for daily activities are considered real properties. DIONISIO B. DENNIS JR. / ABN