Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has increased the valuation rates of real estate plots in all major cities across the country, including Karachi, a news source reported. This rate hike falls in the range of 15% to 25% of the rates notified earlier- on average.
FBR has taken this measure in an effort to bolster tax collection up to the PKR 75 billion mark.
In certain upmarket areas of Karachi, the new valuation rates fall within different ranges, depending on the city’s region. These ranges begin from 15%, and go up to 110% of the rates notified previously.
Former Chairman Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), Arif Jeeva, recently informed that FBR had increased plot valuation rates rates by 110% in DHA Karachi: Phases 7 and 8. Meanwhile, the rates fall in the range of 15% to 25%, on average, for other areas of the city.
For Karachi, FBR has increased the real estate categories from nine to eleven. Meanwhile, the categories of immoveable property in Karachi, Sukkur, and Hyderabad are now divided into seven subcategories.
FBR Member Inland Revenue Service (IRS) Policy, Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, said that the authority plans to increase the projected PKR 50 million tax collection amount up to PKR 75 million. The intention is to decrease the gap between market value and valuation rates, as notified by FBR.
FBR plans to increase the valuation rates further in the next financial year – with an announcement expected to this effect by July 2019. The board is seeking to increase the rates close to 80% in all the major twenty cities of the country.
