Buying property: Solution for filing of additional resources yet to be developed: FBR official

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday admitted that the technical solution for filing of additional resources for buying property under the proposed “Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024” is yet to be developed.

This was revealed by Najeeb Ahmad Memon, Member, Inland Revenue (Policy) FBR, while briefing the sub-committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue which met under the convenor-ship of Bilal Azhar Kayani.

The agenda of the committee as per its TORs was to ensure that the Revenue Division engages the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) to determine the quantum and timeline for eligibility.

Talking about the method of filing of additional resources, the member said “this is something where they need to have some digital technical support.

The FBR is continuously working on this in order to make it user friendly and the person who buys the property can easily log in and the verification should be done in an efficient manner.”

“We are in a process of developing an effective, efficient reliable kind of technological solution,” he added.

ABAD Chairman Muhammad Hassan Bakshi demanded that some reasonable concessions for construction sector and first-time home buyers may be incorporated with reasonable thresholds.

He demanded that first-time home buyers should be exempted from wealth reconciliation for a property up to Rs50 million. Further non-filers/NTN holders should be allowed to buy a property up to Rs25 million, he demanded.

However, in the absence of the FBR chairman, the committee decided to take the matter of setting a threshold in this regard on Friday (today). However, the committee recommended the FBR to revisit the registration process and prepare an easy, user-friendly, and trouble-free procedure for a layman.

Bakshi said the method of filing of additional resources should be made simpler.

There should be no such requirement to provide information about additional resources for the purchase of property. The NTN should be made a mandatory piece of information in the transfer documents (Sale/ Conveyance/Lease Deed). Annual income tax returns of buyers shall automatically provide the required information.

Talking about definition of “eligible person” and “immediate family members” needs improvement. “Eligible person” should be defined as the one who holds a valid NTN. We are fine with the definition of “immediate family members”.

The committee recommended that there should be no distinction in son and daughter and therefore, the word dependent children should be considered.

The ABAD chairman further said that “Cash and Cash equivalents” should be clearly defined in the law.

“Sufficient resources” should cover the entire wealth of an individual. It must not limit it to cash and cash equivalents only.

The committee recommended that cash, stocks, equivalent assets, gold and other as proposed by the FBR should be added.

The ABAD chairman said that date of the implementation and threshold should be decided in a manner that it does not hit the market sentiment. Yet, it is reasonable enough to document investments of high net-worth individuals. The committee observed that the date of implementation should be once FBR gives demonstration to the committee on the proposed solutions and the law is passed.

Bakshi said that while they support and admire the government’s efforts for documentation and resource mobilisation, we believe it is of utmost importance that any reform process must not adversely affect the ongoing business.

Such reforms must also not make our market uncompetitive in comparison to regional economies.

Changing market practices that have been prevalent for decades is a tedious task. It must be handled carefully. Therefore, they propose that the market should be given reasonable time (at least three years) to comprehend and adjust.

Committee members said that keeping in mind the prevailing situations several safeguards have been proposed.

The committee would meet again on Friday (today) to finalise its recommendations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025