Riga Municipality plans to introduce four new categories of real estate tax (RET) from next year, the purpose of which is to ensure an urban environment that promotes the quality of life, the availability of new housing, good environmental quality, and a sustainable urban ecosystem, as well as to promote investments in strengthening internal security and protection.
To introduce these categories of beneficiaries, the Finance and Administration Issues Committee of the Riga City Council supported amendments to the binding regulations “On the procedure for granting real estate tax relief in Riga”, on Wednesday, November 13. The amendments still need to be adopted at the council meeting.
“By adjusting the real estate tax rates, the Municipality has the opportunity to further stimulate positive changes and improvements throughout the city. With the proposal of support for tax credits, the Riga City Council gives a clear signal that we want the housing market of the city to develop and new multi-apartment buildings to be built, we care about safety, and tax credits will be given to those property owners whose buildings have safe places to shelter from threats and crisis situations. The Riga City Council will also encourage the cleaning of previously polluted areas and the preservation of historic trees,” says the Chairman of the Finance and Administration Issues Committee, Riga Mayor Vilnis Ķirsis.
-
It is planned to amend the binding regulations to include four new categories of beneficiaries for RET relief:
-
For newly built multi-apartment residential buildings, the tax relief will be 70%.
- With this category, new support for the creation of new residential premises is added, which includes rental apartments in Riga, because currently, relief is already granted for the land on which a new multi-apartment residential building is being built.
- *To receive the relief, an application must be submitted to the Department of Finance by December 15 of the tax year. The relief will be granted starting from the month following the registration of the building in the National Real Estate Cadastre Information System, and will continue until the building is put into service.
-
For historically polluted territories where restoration has been carried out, the tax relief will be 90%.
- Given that the restoration process requires significant resources with limited state support and opportunities for attracting external funding, the relief are designed to encourage the restoration and revitalization of contaminated sites.
- *To receive the relief, an application for the evaluation of the property must be submitted electronically to the Department of Housing and Environment by October 1, prior to taxation. You will be entitled to receive the relief for ten years, starting from the next tax year following the date of completion of restoration specified in the assessment. If the restoration is completed by December 31, 2024, the relief will be available for the remaining years of the ten-year period starting from the date of completion of the restoration. To receive relief for the year 2025, the taxpayer must submit an electronic application to the Department of Housing and Environment by July 1, 2025.
-
For the land on which a protected tree is located, the tax relief will be 25%.
- In order to maintain and protect a venerable tree or a protected tree of local importance, the landowner is required to provide special care, and the protected tree may restrict the full use of the land. The relief are intended to partially compensate for the inconvenience caused to the landowner.
- *It is determined that the amount of relief granted for one protected tree in the tax year will not exceed a total of 250 euros, regardless of the number of joint holders. The relief will be granted for the entire year, based on the property's compliance as of January 1 of the tax year. Data from the Nature Data Management System “Ozols” and the Unified Information System of the Riga City Council will be used to apply the relief.
-
For public buildings that have shelters meeting the requirements of civil protection, the tax relief will be 25%.
- Considering that shelters play a vital role in ensuring internal security, the amendments provide timely relief to encourage taxpayers to invest in the creation and adaptation of shelters, thereby compensating their contribution to public safety objectives.
- *Relief will be granted starting from the month following the issuance of an opinion by a competent authority confirming the property's compliance with the conditions for granting relief. The maximum amount of the granted relief will be determined by multiplying the area of the shelters in the building that meet the requirements of civil protection by the average construction costs per square meter, with the information provided by the Civil Protection and Operational Information Administration.
- The said relief will be granted only after the national regulation on the relevant issue comes into force, specifically the Cabinet Regulation on technical requirements for shelters.
Electronic communication is one of the conditions for receiving the relief!
The Finance Department of the Riga Municipality reminds that for several categories of taxpayers, having an electronic communication channel (official electronic address or e-mail) as of January 1 of the tax year is a mandatory condition for receiving relief in accordance with the binding regulations.
Taxpayers who meet the conditions for the granting of RET relief, but have not been granted relief for 2024, because an e-communication channel (official electronic address or e-mail) for communication with the Department of Finance has not been registered by January 1 of this year, have the opportunity to do so during this year, and then the relief will be granted for the whole year of 2024. As for 2025, if the electronic communication channel is registered by December 15, 2025, the tax relief will be granted for the entire year 2025.
-
You can notify the electronic communication channel:
- by activating the official electronic address in the portal Latvija.gov.lv;
- by submitting an application via the portal www.eriga.lv (section “Real Estate Tax” by using the service “Submission of e-documents”);
- by submitting an application electronically signed with a secure electronic signature to the address: pip@riga.lv”;
- by sending an application by mail or submitting it in person at the institution at Terēzes iela 5, Riga (only by prior appointment which can be made by calling +371 67181866).
You can find more information about the conditions for granting relief on the Department of Finance website at https://pip.riga.lv/ in the “RET relief” section, or by calling toll-free information phone number 80000850.
Information was prepared by: Mārtiņš Vilemsons, Project Coordinator at External Communication Division of Riga City Council, email: martins.vilemsons@riga.lv