Algeria: Property Tax To Be Levied From Electricity and Gas Bills

The government’s property tax has increased in some regions. And such a hike reached up to 100%. The new methods of taxation on real estate and land are fixed by decree and published in the Official Gazette.

This increase does not cover the entire country. Indeed, under the terms of Executive Decree No. 16-160 of 30 May 2016 laying down the procedures for implementing the annual property tax, the increase concerns the large cities and big municipalities of the country.

Thus, the annual fee will be 600 DA in the wilayas or provinces of Algiers, Annaba, Constantine and Oran regarding premises for residential use. For those meant for professional use, it will be 2,400 dinars.

For the rest, that is to say the other common wilayas, no further increase was decided. In other words, for the local premises for residential use, the tax was set at 300 DA and 1,200 dinars for the professional businesses.

 It should be noted that this tax on housing, levied by the national gas and electricity company Sonelgaz, was introduced in the 2003 Finance Act. 

Paid by citizens settled in big municipalities and those residing in the wilayas or provinces of Algiers, Constantine, Oran and Annaba, since its implementation by the Finance Act 2003, the property tax is, now widespread across all municipalities of the country. 

There has been a broadening of the tax across all 1541 municipalities in the country, established by the 2015 complementary finance law (CFLs 2015), whose stated goal remains the “strengthening of  their financial autonomy and their ability to intervene in the rehabilitation of the country’s housing stock. “

This tax will be allocated to special rehabilitation of the real estate fund, whose operating procedures were defined by an inter-ministerial injunction of 2003 and an executive decree issued in 2005.