Qatar, a Middle Eastern nation rich with oil, should have no problem satisfying its piddling District of Columbia tax bill.
But despite its $25 billion gross domestic product, Qatar owes the nation’s capital $918.97 in back property taxes on its single-family home at 5123 Cathedral Ave. NW, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. The bill, originally $668.34 before interest, dates back to 2001 when the valuable home was purchased.
Qatar is one of about 15 foreign governments with unpaid D.C. tax bills, some of which haven’t been paid for nearly a decade.
Embassies used for “diplomatic purpose” are entitled to a tax exemption. But the embassy staff has to file for it. If that doesn’t happen, or if it is delayed for months, a tax bill can result, Real Property Tax Administration Director Martin Skolnik said.
“We have seen this problem with embassies, nonprofits and other tax exempts,” he said. “They don’t realize or don’t want to realize that they owe taxes for that period of time before the exemption is finalized.”
Properties not used for a diplomatic purpose, such as the single-family home purchased by Qatar, are taxable, Skolnik said.
Foreign governments owe the District roughly $247,000 in back property taxes, according to a list of delinquent property owners. They include Macedonia, Botswana, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Angola, Albania, Armenia, Swaziland, the Philippines, Peru, Hungary and Liberia.
Though they were advertised last month as part of the District’s annual tax lien auction, which starts today, all diplomatic properties have since been removed from the sale — eliminating the option of, say, foreclosing on the Macedonian Embassy.
There is a “sensitivity” in foreign relations that may require the input of the State Department, Skolnik said Friday.
An official at the Benin Embassy dismissed the African nation’s $15,536.92 bill.
“If they do like they say, they will be in the wrong,” said the official, who declined to give his name. “They have to know that the embassies in general, everywhere in the world, don’t pay tax on their properties.”
While not addressing the specifics of a particular government, Skolnik said the listed embassies absolutely owe back taxes.
Two notable names
» The $2,185.02 tax delinquency on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Capitol Hill condominium was repaid June 19 with interest and penalties. A spokeswoman for the Ohio Democrat called the matter an “accounting error.”
» The $1,183.94 tab for indicted Louisana Democrat Rep. William Jefferson’s Northeast rowhouse was repaid June 25, actually overpaid, by $166.75.
