Islamabad – Updated property values and withholding tax plans to raise Rs70 billion were presented to the Senate Committee.
Starting in July 2024, property assessments in large metropolitan centers would be valued at 90% of the market rate instead of 75%, as disclosed to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Read Also: Government Introduces Bag Free Policy for Islamabad Primary Schools
It is anticipated that this modification will bring in an extra Rs70 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.
Thirty billion rupees will likely come from higher property valuations, accounting for thirty billion of the seventy billion rupees. The remaining forty billion rupees will come from new withholding tax rates and higher withholding tax on updated valuations.
The FBR’s Member Inland Revenue (IR) Operation, Mir Badshah Wazir, announced that property value rates will be adjusted shortly following the budget 2024–25 approval.
To collect withholding tax, the federal government establishes property values in specific cities. In the past, tax filers paid rates of 10.5% on purchases and 6% on sales of real estate, while non-filers were subject to income tax rates of 3% on both.
Following the collapse of the voluntary Tajir Dost Scheme, the FBR intends to implement a simpler program for merchants in addition to property valuation adjustments.
The FBR officials also brought up the serious lack of human resources at the Senate committee discussion, pointing out that 6,000 of the 18,000 approved positions are now unfilled. “We require assistance in filling the open positions,” the FBR Member IR Operation stated.