A BILL regulating and taxing the income on short-term Airbnb-style property rentals should go to the plenum within a fortnight, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The stated objective of the legislative proposal – drafted by two MPs – is to regulate the ‘unchecked’ rental of villas and residences as well as apartments for tourism purposes.
According to Edek MP Elias Myrianthous, one of the bill’s authors, there are currently an estimated 40,000 accommodations across the island being used for short-term rentals that are unlicensed and thus not subject to the legislation governing tourist lodgings.
The new bill aims to change that by creating a dedicated registry for short-term self-catering accommodation and then taxing their income, bringing cash into state coffers.
In addition, the law on hotel and tourism accommodation is to be amended by adding clauses setting out technical, operational and health specifications for self-catering accommodation such as those leased via Airbnb.
Under the legislative proposal, where a household’s income from rentals is over €15,600 these rentals will need to register a VAT number.
Also, in some cases it will allow people who rent out premises for commercial purposes to sub-let them.
Concerning the rental of apartments for tourism purposes, MPs have inserted a clause requiring that their owners must beforehand secure the consent of the other owners and/or tenants in the same building block.
Myrianthous said that effectively the bill will provide for the licensing of self-catering lodgings under “comparatively less stringent procedures.”
A dedicated registry is to be created for these residences, villas and apartments. This will be a different registry to that already in existence for hotels and tourist accommodations.
Each property thus registered would be assigned a number, which will be used in online advertising platforms so that punters may know whether the property in question is registered or not.
The idea that to rent to tourists you need permission of all the other owners of apartments in the block only again confines the stupidity of the Cyprus ruling class.
So what happens if you rent your house/apartment in U.K. and where most rentals are English and are paid in country of origin and where you declare and pay tax in U.K. on income of that property.
If you read the law it states you only pay tax once on the the income where you generate the renters.
Surely you can’t be taxed twice???
Ed: If you’re a tax resident in Cyprus and you rent a property in Cyprus (Airbnb or otherwise) you pay any tax arising to the Cyprus Tax Department. If you rent a property in the UK you pay any tax arising to the Inland Revenue Department.
If you’re a UK resident for tax purposes and rent out property in Cyprus you pay any tax arising to the Inland Revenue Department.
To avoid paying tax in both Cyprus and the UK, please see the article Tax on foreign income.
Concerning the rental of apartments for tourism purposes, MPs have inserted a clause requiring that their owners must beforehand secure the consent of the other owners and/or tenants in the same building block.
So the government intent on killing the holiday/tourism industry in favour of their mates who have the hotels.
You can’t even get owners to agree to pay their communals never mind agree for a person to let his property, I bet developers are going to be really happy when their apartment sales have ceased!!!
What idiots think up these stupid rules, you could make this stuff up.
Ed: This is crazy – why would anyone buy a holiday home in touristic development if not to rent it to tourists? Who are the owners going to get the consent from – tourists holidaying in the other apartments?