Deduction for payments made to lessees or licensees to mitigate impact of COVID-19 event
14ZF.—(1) Subsection (2) applies for the purpose of ascertaining the income of a person for the basis period for the year of assessment 2021 or 2022, from the leasing or licensing of any immovable property in relation to which a remission of property tax is given by the Property Tax (Non-Residential Properties) (Remission) Order 2020.
(2) Despite any other provision in this Part, the following (whichever is applicable) is allowed as a deduction against that income for the relevant year of assessment:
(a)
the amount in the form of monetary payments of any benefit (as defined in the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Transfer of Benefit of Property Tax Remission) Regulations 2020) of the reduction in property tax as a result of the remission that the person (being the owner of the property) is required under section 29(2) of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 to pass on to a lessee or licensee of the property in 2020;
(b)
the amount in the form of monetary payments that the person mentioned in paragraph (a) has passed on or has agreed to pass on to the lessee or licensee of the property in the year 2020, and by reason of which the person is exempt from section 29(2) of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 under regulation 13(2) of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Transfer of Benefit of Property Tax Remission) Regulations 2020;
(c)
the amount of any other monetary payments that the person makes in the year 2020 to the person’s lessee or licensee of that property, but only if the Comptroller is satisfied that the payments are intended to provide relief to the lessee or licensee from any economic hardship arising from a COVID-19 event;
(d)
the total of the amounts in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c).
(3) The total amount of deduction allowable under this section in relation to each lessee or licensee for each year of assessment must not exceed the total amount of rent or licence fee payable under the relevant lease agreement or licence agreement between the person and the lessee or licensee for the period between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 (both dates inclusive), or a part of that period, and falling within the basis period for that year of assessment, after taking into account any waiver or reduction of the rent or licence fee for that period.
(4) In this section, “COVID-19 event”, “monetary payment” and “owner”, in relation to immovable property, have the meanings given to these terms by section 13ZA(6).