Real Property Taxation in the Republic of Srpska

Abstract

In tax matters, looking through the prism of taxation sources, three names are usually used for groups of taxes: property taxes, consumption taxes and income taxes. Property taxation exists and has existed in various forms in almost all tax systems. Nowadays, property taxation implies real property taxation, although the term “property” itself is much broader, because more sources can be considered as falling under property taxation, including taxation of movable property and income resulting from real and movable property. The generally accepted name is real property taxation, which is also the case in the Republic of Srpska, although legally speaking, taxation of real rights in immovable property and transfer of real rights in immovable property would be more precise, depending on whether the object of taxation is solely the possession or use of real property or the object of taxation is the transfer of real rights from one person to another for or without consideration. In most countries, real property taxation involves a high degree of coordination between central and local authorities, and speaking from the point of view of the criterion of revenue distribution in most countries, income from real property taxation belongs to the group of local taxes, meaning that, in some countries, they are referred to as “local taxes”.
The goal of this paper is precisely to study the real property taxation in statics, as well as the taxation of the transfer of real rights in immovable property for and without consideration, within the framework of the Republic of Srpska’s legal system.