The Government intends large tax on Housing Society Files and Property.In the future budget (2023-24), the government is expected to boost taxes on non-filers on the purchase and sale of immovable property in order to document the trading of files of plots at private housing societies.
According to sources, withholding taxes are avoided in private housing schemes across the country during the trading of files of plots. Registered property agents who are involved in business transactions between buyers and sellers of immovable property would be the objective.
Many private housing organisations are complicit in tax evasion by failing to record real transfers, and file commerce proceeds without payment of taxes. To prevent such operations in private housing schemes, the FBR will implement steps in the upcoming budget to document purchasers and sellers and assure tax payment.
The law reforms would ensure the payment of taxes on the purchase and sale of files of plots by private housing societies, as well as the documentation of immovable properties.
Currently, the government has raised the tax rate on property purchases by non-active taxpayers from 100 percent to 250 percent. The rate of tax to be collected under section 236K has been increased by 250 percent of the rate stipulated in Division XVIII of Part IV of the First Schedule in the case of a purchaser of immovable property who is not on the Active Taxpayers List. The necessary amendment has been inserted into rule 1 of the Income Tax Ordinance’s Tenth Schedule.
Immovable property values will be enhanced by the FBR beginning July 1, 2023. In conjunction with provincial authorities, the FBR has begun the process of updating property valuation tables across Pakistan.
The FBR has requested senior members of the Board of Revenues from Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan should provide instructions to divisional/district heads for the nomination of Board of Revenue representatives for consultation/consideration with teams formed by the chief commissioners of Regional Tax Offices.
Under the aegis of the World Bank, the FBR is currently pursuing a taxation reform agenda known as the Pakistan Raises Revenue Project (PRRP). One of the most important aspects of the initiative is the goal of harmonising the valuation of immovable assets between the FBR and the provincial governments/districts.
