Cyprus tax revenue declines 10.5% in Jan-April 2009

Tax revenue collected during the first four months of 2009 fell by 10.5% year-on-year to EUR 487.19 mln from EUR 544.19 mln in the same period in 2008 according to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
The decline in revenue is mainly attributed to the scaling down in the receipts from Capital Gains Tax which tumbled by 82% YoY to EUR 21.3m from EUR 116.2 mln a year ago, owing to the sharp decline in demand in the property market. As reported previously, during the first four months of the year, property sale contracts announced by the Land Registry Departments were also down by 62.5% supporting the above decline in property market related revenues. On the positive side, tax revenue on employees income increased by 21% to EUR 158.6 mln, on the self employed, revenue was up 16% while tax revenue from corporations was up 8% to EUR 95.2 mln.