On May 11, four departments including the Ministry of Finance held a symposium on real estate tax reform pilot in Beijing. For a while, the topic of real estate tax returned to the public opinion field.
As one of the pilot cities for the collection of property tax, Shanghai has implemented the Interim Measures for the Pilot Collection of Property Tax on Some Individual Housing in accordance with the "Shanghai Municipal Government's Interim Measures" issued by the Shanghai Municipal Government since January 28, 2011. 》 (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures") to collect property taxes on some individual houses, which has been piloted for ten years so far.
Different from Chongqing, which focuses on high-end luxury properties, Shanghai mainly targets multi-suite owners, and sets a per capita tax-free area of ??60 square meters for households registered in Shanghai. To a certain extent, it avoids the impact on ordinary families and protects those in urgent need. At the same time, it is also conducive to changing the current situation of "emphasis on transfer and light on preservation" of the current real estate tax, and plays a good demonstration role.
Shanghai property taxes will be reduced by 1.8 billion yuan in 2020
Times Weekly reporters learned through comparison that on January 28, 2021, the Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau, the State Administration of Taxation, the Shanghai Municipal Taxation Bureau, The Shanghai Municipal Housing Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Several Issues Concerning the City's Pilot Collection of Property Tax on Some Individual Housing" Hucaifa [2020] No. 18 (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The content of this notice basically continues the 2011 The interim measures for annual property tax collection have no changes to the objects to be levied or the property tax rate.
According to the interim measures, the current property tax collection objects in Shanghai are still mainly divided into the following two types:
The first category: Shanghai household registration. Starting from January 28, 2011, for Shanghai family residents who newly purchase a second or higher house in this city, if the combined total housing area of ??the family does not exceed 60 square meters (including 60 square meters) per person, the other Newly purchased housing is temporarily exempt from property tax; if the per capita area exceeds 60 square meters, property tax will be calculated and levied according to regulations for the excess area of ??the newly purchased housing.
Category 2: non-household registration. If you buy a house in Shanghai without a household registration in this city, you need to pay property tax according to a certain tax rate per square meter.
In addition, housing purchased or acquired due to house expropriation or demolition, as well as housing obtained by rural residents through the homestead replacement pilot policy, can be temporarily exempted from property tax. The portion of the above-mentioned houses that exceeds the national and this city's compensation standards for house expropriation or demolition shall be calculated and determined in accordance with the provisions of the interim measures to determine the area for property tax exemption.
According to a Times Weekly reporter's inquiry on the official website of the Shanghai Taxation Bureau, the current applicable tax rate for Shanghai's Interim Measures for Collection of Property Taxes is still 0.6%, which qualifies as the market transaction price per square meter of taxable housing is lower than the city's previous year If the average sales price of newly built commercial housing is 2 times (inclusive), the tax rate will be temporarily reduced to 0.4%.
Specifically, the average sales price of newly built commercial housing last year announced by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics in 2021 was 36,741 yuan/square meter. Based on this calculation, if the relevant home buyers who purchased new housing in 2021, If the market transaction price per square meter is ≤73,482 yuan, the tax rate can be temporarily reduced to 0.4%, otherwise it will be calculated as 0.6%.
(Picture source: Shanghai Taxation Bureau official website)
Out-of-town house buyers Zhang Wen and his wife (pseudonyms) told Times Weekly reporters that they bought a 120-square-meter house in Shanghai in 2017 meters of real estate, the average price is 43,000 yuan/square meter. At that time, according to the purchase of houses without Shanghai household registration, the average price of Zhang Wen’s houses was 43,000 yuan/square meter, which was lower than the 2017 property tax rate dividing line of 51,820 yuan/square meter. Therefore, the real estate tax rate was the lowest standard of 0.4%. Therefore, the property tax that needs to be paid is: 120 square meters × 43,000 yuan/square meter × 0.004 = 20,640 yuan.
Another Shanghai landlord, Zhang Wen (pseudonym), said that her current 160-square-meter house was purchased in 2010, before the property tax was introduced, so it was not included in the taxable property. . But at the beginning of 2021, Zhang Wen purchased a 100-square-meter off-plan house at a price of 80,000 yuan/square meter. According to regulations, since it exceeded the tax-free housing area standard of 60 square meters per person for Shanghai registered families, the newly purchased house The entire area of ??a house (i.e. 100 square meters) needs to pay property tax according to regulations. It is estimated that the property tax you need to pay this year is: 100 square meters × 80,000 yuan/square meter × 0.7 × 0.006 = 33,600 yuan.
According to the "Shanghai Tax Revenue Statistics in 2020" released by the Shanghai Taxation Bureau on January 26, Shanghai's real estate tax revenue in 2020 was 19.87479 billion yuan (not accurate to personal housing property tax) . Daily Economic News reported that based on Shanghai’s property tax revenue in the past 10 years, it has begun to show an increasing trend year by year.
However, a reporter from Times Weekly found that Shanghai’s property tax revenue in 2020 still dropped slightly by 1.8 billion yuan compared with 21.6835 billion yuan in 2019. In this regard, on May 13, Li Zhanjun, a researcher on the Shanghai real estate market, said in an interview with a reporter from Times Weekly that it is most likely because during the epidemic, rents and taxes on commercial properties held by some companies have been reduced or reduced, so even if It is normal to see a slight decline.
Experts: The conditions for comprehensive levy of property tax are still immature
In the recent discussion on the comprehensive levy of property tax, "the comprehensive levy of property tax can reduce housing prices" has become a hot topic of debate. Times Weekly reporters recently interviewed a number of industry insiders, and many believed that property taxes would have a limited effect on sharply lowering housing prices.
On May 10, Hu Jinghui, chief economist of Jinghui Think Tank, commented that the introduction of property tax is not simply to target high housing prices. It is a very important fiscal and taxation system reform in our country to solve the problem of local government land Financial issues and solving the problem of residents’ income adjustment. The introduction of property tax will definitely promote housing transactions and circulation and curb the rapid rise in housing prices, but it is unlikely to cause housing prices to plummet.
Li Zhanjun also believes that judging from the 10-year pilot situation in Shanghai and Chongqing, the real estate tax pilot projects in Shanghai and Chongqing both show that the correlation between property tax and housing prices is average.
“The 2021 legislative work plan announced by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress does not mention real estate tax, and the conditions for comprehensive levy of real estate tax are still immature. Starting from January 28, 2011, Shanghai and Chongqing Real estate tax has been piloted one after another for 10 years. Even if the tax structure of our country is adjusted in the future, the tax on the circulation link is reduced, and the tax on the holding link is generated, there is a high probability that it will not change the long-term pattern of a zigzag rise in the price of my country's commercial housing market. ." Li Zhanjun said.
On the same day, CRIC Research Center issued a document stating that it is expected that my country’s real estate tax may be advanced step by step and the scope of pilot cities will gradually be expanded. For example, real estate tax will be levied on a pilot basis in core first- and second-tier cities where the current market continues to be hot, and then extended to weaker second-tier and third- and fourth-tier cities. Based on summarizing the experiences of Shanghai and Chongqing, the pilot cities in the next stage may appropriately expand the scope of real estate tax collection and reflect certain policy strength.
On May 14, another senior analyst of the second-hand housing market told a reporter from Times Weekly that based on the property tax collection situation in Shanghai, assessments will be made based on the overall real estate market environment in different periods. , and use the average sales price of the Municipal Bureau of Statistics as a benchmark to reduce taxes for qualified individuals. Generally speaking, it has reference significance for the comprehensive collection of property taxes.
“With the comprehensive advancement and gradual implementation of real estate tax legislation, it is foreseeable that Shanghai’s property tax collection methods will be more detailed.” The above-mentioned person further pointed out.