Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2011-02-09

Imposition of a Tax on transfer of land to non-citizens

- the present legal provision in the country is to charge a tax equivalent to the value of the related property, when a property is transferred to a non-citizen. But it has been observed that, as a means to circumvent the payment of the transfer tax, non-citizens enter into lease agreement with land owners, causing, loss of revenue and also resulting in foreigners getting long term possession of valuable land at a minimal value. To overcome this situation, on a proposal made by H.E. the President, Cabinet approval was granted to prepare legislation to amend the law to make leases to non-citizens to be liable for the payment of this tax.