Government urged to abolish CVT and stamp duty on real estate sector

Muhammad Ahsan Malik, general secretary, Real Estate Consultants Association, DHA, Islamabad visited ICCI (Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and discussed key issues of real estate sector with Sheikh Amir Waheed, president, M Naveed Malik, senior vice president and Nisar Mirza, vice president of the ICCI.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir, said that Prime Minister had announced to reduce tax rate on the purchase of property to only 1 percent along with abolition of DC rate and FBR rates while provinces would also be recommended to adopt the same tax rate for property. He urged that government should abolish other taxes on the purchase of property including CVT and stamp duty and impose only 1 percent tax rate. He said that government should also end capital gain tax slabs on purchase of property and introduce 5 percent flat CGT. He said the period of gain tax should also be reduced from 3 years to 2 years. He urged that provincial governments should also abolish CVT and stamp duty on purchase of property and impose only 1 percent tax rate.
Muhammad Naveed Malik, senior vice president and Nisar Mirza, vice president of ICCI assured that the Islamabad Chamber would fully cooperate with Real Estate Consultants Association (RECA) DHA Islamabad in resolving key issues of its members.
Highlighting major issues of real estate sector, Muhammad Ahsan Malik, GS of RECA, said that cash of clients was deposited in the accounts of Real Estate Consultants and tax was deducted on the same. He urged that government should remove withholding tax on the cash withdrawals of Real Estate Consultants. He said government should double or triple tax rate for non-filers and allow them to purchase property. He said Overseas Pakistanis should be considered as filers because they were filing returns in their host countries. He said government should legalize 2 percent service charges of Real Estate Consultants as they were paying services tax in addition to income tax and it was difficult to determine services tax without giving legal cover to 2 percent service charges.