Problematic aspects of determining the surface area of grounds, buildings and premises for cadastre and real estate taxation purposes

Abstract

Real estate cadastre is commonly recognized as a register of an actual state in the range of grounds, buildings and premises. It contains data which represent a standardized description of their fundamental attributes like location or surface area. According to the Geodetic and Cartographic Law, data contained in the cadastre are a base of the real estate taxation. However, this record may be recognized as fulfilled only in the case of cadastral parcel. In Poland, due to the separate rules of calculating buildings and premises usable floor area for the purposes of the real estate tax base assessment, which have been imposed by the Act of 12 January 1991 on Taxes and Local Fees, data revealed in the cadastre are unused. This article constitutes an attempt to compare the rules related to procedure of computing surface area of grounds, buildings and premises for cadastre and real estate taxation purposes in Poland. Author pays attention, inter alia, into a problem of a proper identification of spaces which are classified in whole or in part to the building usable floor area, depending on ensuing circumstances. The issue of methodology of calculating usable floor area of buildings and premises is analyzed as well. The complement of performed research constitutes a comparison between surface area of selected objects revealed in the cadastre and their equivalents which formed the basis for performed activities related to the determination of the real estate tax base assessment.