289 TAX LAW A New Tax Controversy: Valuable House Tax* Özge Kısacık In accordance with the Valuable House Tax (“VHT”) that is regulated through Law Numbered 7194 on the Digital Service Tax and the Amendment of Certain Laws and Law Decree Numbered 375 (“Law No. 7194”), and which is quite new and controversial to Turkey, households in Turkey whose tax value is more than TRY 5,000,000 are also subject to the VHT in addition to real estate tax. As a result of the criticisms and lawsuits filed regarding the VHT, many changes were made in the VHT through LawNo. 7221, published in the Official Gazette dated February 20, 2020, and the effective date of the VHT was postponed to 2021. Through the implementation of the VHT as of 2021, the details of the procedures and principles of the VHT were included with the Valuable House Tax General Communiqué (“Communiqué”), which was recently published. Despite many changes regarding the VHT, it is expected that the discussions on the issue will continue, considering that VHT liability is disputable in terms of some essential taxation principles, such as the equality and faculty principle of taxation. Within this scope, taxpayers may evaluate to submit their declaration with reservation and initiate the tax litigation procedure, subsequently. The Scope of Valuable House Tax and Determination of Tax Liability Residential immovable properties located within the borders of Turkey and with a building tax value exceeding TRY 5,000,000 (TRY 5,227,000 for 2021) are the subjects of the VHT. In the VHT application, the concept of “residential property” is explained in the Communiqué as “residential buildings and each independent section * Article of January, 2021
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