so you're moving to ahvāz: a tax historian's drunk guide to not getting audited
so you're moving to ahvāz. maybe for the oil money, maybe because your family's from here, maybe you just lost a bet. regardless, welcome to the concrete sweatbox where the karun river smells like regret and industry in july. i'm parviz, your self-appointed tax historian兼sidewalk philosopher. i've lived here through the monarchy, the revolution, the war, and three different currency re-denominations. my tax file is probably older than the islamic republic. let's get you sorted before the maliyat (tax) man comes knockin'.
first, the weather. it's not just hot. it's a physical entity. right now, as i type this, the air outside is a solid 48°c (118°f) with a humidity that makes your skin feel like wet paste. it's the kind of heat where the shadows look deep and inviting, but they're just slightly less hot than the sun. this is your new normal from may to october. invest in a quality AC or learn to sleep on a rooftop with a wet sheet. your electric bill will be a national tragedy.
now, the money. here's the raw deal nobody puts in the glossy brochures. average rent for a decent (not fancy, not slum) apartment in a place like golestan or khiyaban is... wait for it... 15 to 25 million tomans a month. yes, millions. your brain will recalibrate. a hiring manager at the national iranian oil company (nioc) might offer you a package that includes housing, because otherwise, your salary as a mid-level engineer gets eaten by rent. if you're freelancing or in the private sector, you're basically swimming upstream.
the tax system here is a beautiful, Byzantine labyrinth built on top of a sassanian-era irrigation canal. it's not one system; it's three systems that hate each other. you have:
1. *maliyat-e tashkilat (corporate tax) - roughly 25% for most companies, but nioc and related petrochemicals have their own, let's say, special arrangements.
2. maliyat-e maliat (income tax) - progressive, but good luck getting the brackets explained clearly. the standard deduction is a joke.
3. maliyat-e arz (capital gains/property tax) - the one that gets people. sell a house? they want a cut. inherit property? prepare for a valuation that has nothing to do with reality.
drunk advice #1: a guy at the chai khaneh (tea house) told me, "if you're getting paid in cash from a local contractor, they're probably writing you off as 'contract labor' and you're on the hook for the full 30% effective rate later. get everything in saned (official invoice), always." he was drinking doogh and looked like a tax auditor's nightmare. he was probably right.
overheard rumor at the ghadir mall: the property tax assessor's office has a posted value for your 100m2 apartment that's 40% of the black-market sale price. but if you complain, they'll reassess it up to 85% to 'be fair.' it's a trap.
the procedure? you need a shenasnameh (national id), your shenasnameh-e sherkat if you have a company, and the patience of a saint. you will queue. you will get a number. you will watch the fan spin lethargically above the clerk's head. you will need multiple photocopies of everything. bring your own pen. they never have working pens.
safety note: ahvāz is generally okay during the day, but like any post-industrial city, some neighborhoods around the old refinery areas get sketchy after dark. don't walk alone near the karun's southern banks at night. it's not a 'vibrant' nightlife area, it's just dark and industrial. think more "sullen concrete" than "charming cobblestones."
flights out are decent. the airport (awz) gets you to tehran in 2 hours, to dubai in 3. a short drive (3-4 hrs) north gets you to the zagros mountains, which feel like a different planet. khorramshahr is an hour south, with its own weird, melancholic vibe by the arvand river.
last bit of history nerd stuff: this tax chaos isn't new. the sassanians had a insane land-tax system called kharaj that we're still philosophically inheriting. the qajars messed it up. the pahlavis computerized some of it. the islamic republic... well, they added a layer of clerical oversight. it's all here, in the paperwork sitting on a dusty shelf in a building with no AC.
you'll learn to love it. or you'll move to isfahan. both are valid. now go get your sened-e shahrabi (municipal tax clearance) so you can actually get that utility hooked up. and for the love of all that's holy, don't try to pay in cash at the main office. the line is biblical. use the online portal if your internet here doesn't decide to take a nap.
p.s. the real key? befriend someone at the edareye koll-e tashkilat* (general tax administration). not to bribe. just to understand which form goes where. it's a networking game, not a math one.
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