Citizens and other taxpayers who have been charged real estate tax by municipalities on “structures under construction” and “other structures” in recent years are not entitled to a refund of that money, even though the Constitutional Court ruled that these provisions of the Real Estate Tax Act are unconstitutional. These disputed provisions have been in effect since 2019.
As explained to "News" from the Constitutional Court and the Association of Municipalities, the reason is that this decision of the Constitutional Court of October 15 last year was not published in the Official Gazette because the Constitutional Court decided to postpone the announcement of the repeal of the entire article for two months in order to give a chance to amend the law and correct the illegality.
The Parliament subsequently amended the law, so the Constitutional Court did not even send the decision to the Official Gazette for publication.
This tax is collected by local governments and is part of their revenue. A reader who contacted "Vijesti" said that he asked his municipality to return the money they took from him based on the illegal change in the law or to deduct the amount from this year's tax, but that he was refused.
When asked by "Vijesti" whether municipalities will return this money to taxpayers, the Association of Municipalities said that the Constitutional Court's decision has not been published but has been suspended and that there is no legal basis for the refund.
"The Constitutional Court of Montenegro did not declare the aforementioned provisions unconstitutional, but suspended the procedure for assessing their constitutionality, because in the meantime, in October 2025, amendments to that Law were adopted, which removed the disputed provisions," the Union of Municipalities stated in response to a question from "Vijesti".
The Constitutional Court told "Vijesti" that, by a decision dated December 25, 2024, they initiated proceedings to review the constitutionality of the provisions of Article 3, paragraph 2, indent 2, in the part that reads: "facilities under construction" and in the part that reads: "and other facilities" of the Real Estate Tax Law.
"At the session held on October 15, 2025, the Constitutional Court repealed the aforementioned provisions as unconstitutional, but determined that this Decision would be published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro on December 24, 2025, in order to avoid a legal vacuum, which would prevent the collection of real estate tax. Since the payment of tax is a constitutional obligation, the Constitutional Court decided that this Decision would enter into force in a little over two months, so that by that date the Law on Real Estate Tax could be harmonized with the Constitution and international treaties. At the session held on December 11, 2025, the Constitutional Court issued a decision suspending the procedure for assessing the constitutionality of the provisions of Article 3, paragraph 2, indent 2, in the part that reads: "facilities under construction" and in the part that reads: "and other facilities", of the Law on Real Estate Tax, and stated that the Decision of the Constitutional Court of October 15 will not be published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro," the Constitutional Court stated.
They explained that they made the decision to suspend the proceedings and not publish the decision because they determined that the Parliament had in the meantime adopted amendments to the law that deleted the disputed provisions.
"After adopting the decision on the repeal of October 15, and before December 24, 2025, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Real Estate Tax, which entered into force on October 24, 2025, in accordance with the provisions of Article 8 of that law and whose provision in Article 2 amended the disputed part of the provisions of Article 3, paragraph 2, indent 2 of the Law on Real Estate Tax, in the manner prescribed: 'In Article 3, paragraph 2, indent 2, the words: 'facilities under construction' are deleted, and the word 'other' is replaced by the word 'engineering', the Constitutional Court stated.
The Constitutional Court, as they explain, determined that by amending the Law, the Parliament of Montenegro harmonized the disputed provisions with the Constitution and the positions of the European Court of Human Rights, i.e. that the aforementioned harmonization satisfies the requirements of legal certainty, the rule of law and the separation of powers from the Constitution, from the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 2 and Articles 11 and 145 of the Constitution and the standard of legality, in the sense of the positions of the European Court of Human Rights.
"The Constitutional Court has therefore assessed that the conditions, from the provisions of Article 65, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, have been met for Decision UI No. 19/21 and 46/21, dated 15 October 2025, not to be published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro and for the proceedings in this case to be suspended," it was stated in the response to "Vijesti".
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