MULTAN: The excise and taxation department will enforce the new property tax survey from Aug 1, instead of July due to some changes including reduction in the tax rate from 25 to 5 per cent and penalties on giving incorrect property rent details.

Director Excise and Taxation Multan Jam Muhammad Saraj told APP that the tax rate had been reduced to encourage people to bring on record the rent of their properties. He said that the initiative had been taken to make the system transparent and facilitate tax-payers.

Jam said that the department would impose penalties on people who hide rent of their properties while whistle blowers would be rewarded. He said that all relevant details would be available online from August 1.

He said that Multan had once again stood top by recovering a record Rs1.6 billion against a target of Rs940 million in year 2013-14.