ISLAMABAD  -  The finance minister announced during his budget speech that the government was going to reduce tax on real estate sector of the country to attract investment. It is pertinent to mention here that the real estate sector in the country faced serious crisis in last couple of years due to excessive taxes imposed on property transactions by the government.

However, now it has been purposed that the ratio of tax levelled on transfer of property would be reduced in next finincial years, which gives a hope that the industry would gain momentum once again. Finance Minister has announced that the government will reduce the different ratios of withholding tax on the purchase of property from 4 to 2.5 percent, 3.5 to 2 percent and 3.5 to 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, he has also announced to lift the federal excise duty, which was imposed in the last budget to facilitate the real estate sector. On the other side, the federal government also reduced the estamp duty from 4 percent to 1 percent in Islamabad and also suggested the provincial government to follow the same tax pattern to reduce the taxes on the transfer of immovable properties. The finance minister highlighted that the Realestate and construction industry is an important part of Pakistan’s economy as large scale industry is also dependent on this sector. He hoped that the tax relaxations announced in the budget would help to revive investment to positively contribute into economy.