ISLAMABAD:
On Friday, the government took the decision to raise property rates by around 20% for 21 major cities across Pakistan, focused on filling the gap that allows black money to the economy.
The second phase of aligning real estate appraisal rates in line with market rates has been due since July 2017 and the previous PML-N administration has twice delayed the growth, reports an English daily.
This step will allow the government to reap an additional Rs5 billion in tax revenue in the last five months (January-June) of the current financial year 2018-19.
The tax regulator announced on Friday the revised real estate estimates and more areas have been added to the existing cities aimed at broadening the coverage.
Federal Revenue Board (FBR) spokesman Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar said taxes on average had risen by 20% and general property tax rates had risen between 15% and 25%.
According to Sarwar, due to the latest revision, real estate estimates have come closer to 60% of real market values.
He added that the final phase of the growth will start from July or September, which will bring real estate estimates to 80% of market estimates.
However, the tax regulator did not add more cities to the list and kept it unchanged at twenty-one and these rates take effect from 1 February.
The movement is directly focused on collecting federal taxes on the sale and purchase of real estate.
