FBR to notify revised valuation of immovable property by November

LAHORE: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will notify revised valuation of immovable property by November 1, said sources.

According to well-placed sources, the Board had extended the last date of October 13 for another week after finding discrepancies in the revised valuation of immovable properties, forwarded by the field formations from the country.

They said the field formations have submitted again the revised valuation of immovable properties after doing away with the discrepancies pointed out by the Board. One of the major discrepancies was a mismatch in the revised valuation with the prices of immovable properties on ground, they said.

The prices of immovable properties have registered an impressive growth after the announcement of an amnesty scheme by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government last year. However, the revised valuation of immovable properties missed this growth in prices, therefore, the Board had reverted the revised rates to the field formations for reconsideration.

The sources said the Board would take another week to finalise the rates, followed by issuance of a formal circular by 1st of November.

It may be noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also persuading the Board for a fresh valuation. Strong objections were raised by the Fund against the continuity of old valuation since 2015-16 when the Board had initiated the project of assessing the taxable value of immovable properties alongside the DC rates.

It was followed by issuance of a circular by the Board in early October for an online meeting of focal persons from all the field formations to get feedback up to 13th October 2021.

It is worth noting that both the large taxpayer offices (LTOs) and corporate tax offices (CTOs) have been excluded from the process and the whole focus has been shifted to regional tax offices, which deal with the individual taxpayers. Accordingly, RTOs in some 18 cities were asked to submit revised valuation of immovable properties to the Board.

The field staff of RTOs has carried out surveys, held meetings with real estate agents, and collected information from independent sources before recommending a fresh valuation of immovable properties to synchronize the FBR valuation of immovable properties to the 90 percent of the real value of land.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021