Revised valuation rates of properties in 40 urban cities: Tarin orders FBR to extend deadline till March 1

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday instructed the FBR to extend the deadline for implementing the revised valuation rates of properties in 40 urban cities till March 1, 2022. The FBR must take all stakeholders into confidence, including the provinces, and then come up with valuation rates for the whole country.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenues Shaukat Tarin decided this in a meeting with a delegation of the Real Estate Consultants Association (RECA) led by Ahsan Malik here at the Finance Division on Wednesday.

When contacted, Secretary-General RECA, Ahsan Malik, told The News that the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin listened to all problems and assured to resolve them amicably. The real estate sector wants one valuation rate for all over the country instead of three different rates such as the valuation rate notified by DC in their respective areas, FBR rates, and market rates.

The real estate players want that the valuation of property should be mandated to the provinces in their respective provinces. However, the World Bank $400 million loans under Pakistan Raises Revenues has the condition that the FBR valuation rates would be updated in order to align with the market rates.

It is yet to seen how the FBR proceeds further to jack up valuation rates on the basis of which the FBR taxes will be charged. The real estate tycoons argued that it would be difficult to implement the whopping valuation rates because if such higher rates would be implemented, then the boom of this sector would die down. It will become hard for buyers to show whole white money and in certain cases, the money to such an extent which is not in accordance with the market prices.

The real estate representatives were of the view that it would discourage genuine buyers who would prefer to transfer lands in their own names. How the FBR would tackle where the files were sold and no transaction occurred in front of registration authorities, they asked.

Earlier, the FBR had extended the deadline for implementing the revised valuation rates of properties in 40 major urban cities by holding its notification in abeyance till January 31, 2022. The FBR had jacked up valuation rates in 40 different cities up to 700 percent through an official notification issued on December 1, 2021, that resulted in protests all over the country.