ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would hold meeting with Federal Board of Revenue officials and real estate sector stakeholders on Saturday (today) to end the deadlock on determination of properties values in Karachi and Lahore for taxation purpose.

The FBR and real estate sector have still not developed consensus on fair market value of immovable properties in the two main cities of the country, Karachi and Lahore. An official of the FBR informed that finance minister would play his role to resolve the issue in today’s meeting. The meeting will give ample time to the real estate sector and the FBR officials to chalk out a middle path agreeable to all sides, he said. He further said that property price in Islamabad has almost been determined. However, issues pertaining to housing societies situated in Karachi and Lahore are the major hurdles in talks. “Two sides will once again sit today to resolve the issue,” he added.

The representatives of the real estate sector are presenting low values of properties in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad as compared to the working of the FBR valuers. However, the FBR has agreed with the market rates provided by the real estate sector in other cities including Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Peshawar and Abbotabad, Quetta and Gwadar.

A representative of the real estate sector informed The Nation that they would meet Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar and Chairman FBR Nisar Khan on early Saturday, which would be followed by a meeting with Ishaq Dar in evening. “We hope issue will be resolved in next meeting and the government will give a package for the real sector,” he added. He further said that major concern of the sector is that the sale and purchase of properties will be affected if there is instability in the real estate market.

It is worth mentioning here that federal government enhanced the tax rates on the sale and purchase of land and other properties in the federal budget 2016-17. Similarly, it has also decided to appoint State Bank of Pakistan’s valuators to determine the current market prices of the properties under consideration, which was not acceptable to the real sector.