ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Islamabad Estate Agents Association, led by General Secretary Ch Zahid Rafique, visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and discussed key issues of real estate sector with ICCI Acting President Muhammad Naveed Malik.
ICCI Vice President Nisar Mirza, Ch Nadeem, Khalid Chaudhry, Malik Najeeb, Bilal Shah, Nasir Chaudhry and others were also present at the occasion.
Addressing the delegation, Muhammad Naveed Malik said that the real estate sector was playing important role in the economic development of the country but imposition of heavy taxes has badly affected its business activities. He stressed that the caretaker government should consider reducing tax rates on this sector to facilitate the growth of economy.
Malik said that the outgoing 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, but the same was not implemented as yet. He stressed that all other taxes should be abolished on the purchase of property including CVT and stamp duty and only 1 percent tax rate should be imposed.
He said that capital gain tax slabs on purchase of property should be removed and 5 percent flat CGT should be introduced. He said the period of gain tax should also be reduced from 3 years to 2 years. He urged that provinces should also abolish CVT and stamp duty on purchase of property and impose only 1 percent tax rate.
ICCI Vice President Nisar Mirza assured that the Chamber would fully cooperate with Islamabad Estate Agents Association in resolving key issues of its members.
Highlighting the major issues of real estate sector, Ch Zahid Rafique said that real estate should be given the status of industry to facilitate its better growth. He said that high tax rates on real estate sector have caused slump in property business and urged that tax rates should be revised downward. He said the government should double or triple tax rate for non-filers and allow them to purchase property of Rs.5 million and above.
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 agents 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.
