LAND TAX

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 12, 2 April 1952, Page 3

LAND TAX

RETURNS DUE APRIL 8

Furnishing a return oi land is an annual duty imposed by law on all landowners who at noon on IVIarch 31 hold land of an unimproved value, according to ihe Govemment valuation, in excess of £1,000. Unimproved value is the value of the land exclusive of buildings, fencing and other improvements. Forms are obtainable at all post offices and at offices of the Land and Income Tax Department. The return should be completed and forwarded on or before April 8 1952 to the Superintendent, Land and Income Tax Department, at the Branch offiee coneerned. — Any person neglecting to furnish a return is liable to a penalty not exceeding £100. Neglect to furnish returns at the prescribed time not only render taxpayers liable to prosecution but also in many cases for considerably more tax than would otherwise be payable. The act provides for an exemptiop in respect of registered mortgages or balances of purchasemoney in certain circumstances, but to obtain the exemption it is essential that a return showing particulars of mortgages owing should be lurnished. The Land and Income Tax Department cannot assume that mdrtgages are owing, and in the absence of a return the assessment is made as though the land were unencumbered. The tax assessed in those cases may be in excess of the amount which would be payable if the return had been furnished. . All persons liable to furnish returns are therefore advised in their own interests to forward their returns on or before the above date.