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IMI Revenues Reverse Declines Increasing to €1.503 Billion in 2018

30 January 2019

In 2018, the IMI raised more than 1.5 billion euros for just the second time, bringing in €47 million more than in 2017.

Revenues from the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) amounted to 1.503 billion euros in 2018, reversing two consecutive declines over the past two years.

According to data on the implementation of the budget in 2018, IMI collections surpassed 1.5 billion euros for the second time, with receipts up by 47 million euros compared to 2017. Changes to the rules governing the calculation of property taxes meant that revenues from the tax had increased steadily until 2015 when it hit a record high of 1.5332 billion euros.

Over the following two years, however, revenues fell slightly, due to the impact of a measure that allows municipalities to grant tax rebates to residents with dependents, property owners’ greater propensity to request reassessments of the value their properties and to the fact that the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) began to assign a tax exemption for low-income families automatically.

Although none of those factors changed in 2018, the data show that revenue increased, though no information is available as to why. The IMI rate is currently set between a minimum of 0.3% and a maximum of 0.45%, and most municipalities have chosen to charge the minimum amount.

Alongside the exemption scheme for low-income families, there is a temporary exemption (for a maximum period of three years) on the taxation of the owner’s use of permanent housing. In 2017, the AT received 12,098 requests for such exemptions from the IMI through the Finance Portal. Last year, the number of requests fell to 11,991.

Original Story: Economia Online / Lusa

Photo: Reuters

Translation: Richard Turner