Daily Times

The Punjab government proposed increase in the rate of court fees, stamp duty, tax levied on immovable properties in urban areas on the basis of capital value (DC rate) instead of rental value in the Finance Bill for the fiscal year 2024-25 presented in Punjab Assembly session by the Provincial Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, here Thursday.

According to the proposals, the government will have the power to declare any property as high value property, the assessing authority will be able to audit the self-assessment of the property and if a person is underpaying tax or tax evasion. If he tries to do so, he will be fined in addition to the hidden or stolen tax.

In the Finance Bill for the next financial year, it has been recommended to amend the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1958 that motorcycle and A Lifetime Token Tax of Rs 1500 will be levied on a scooter and if it is sold within 10 years, a rebate of 10 percent is recommended on its Token Tax every financial year while Token Tax on a vehicle is levied on the invoice value. It has been proposed to increase the cess duty for labor welfare under the Labour Act 1967.

In the different series of column three of schedule one of the Court Fees Act, 1870, it has been suggested that the court fee should be charged at Rs 100 instead of Re.01 and 50 paisa; Rs 500 instead of Rs 2, Rs 7.5, Rs 15, and Rs 20.

In the Finance Bill, by amending the Stamp Act 1899, an increase in stamp duties has been proposed, according to which the stamp duty which was of Rs 100 has increased to Rs 300; the stamp duty of Rs 1200 has increased to Rs 3,000. Similarly, in Article 17, the stamp duty increased from Rs 100 to Rs 500; in Clause A of Article 48, stamp duty has been increased to Rs 2,000 instead of Rs 500; and, in the clause (bb) the stamp duty will be Rs 3,000 instead of Rs 1200. Similarly, in Article 54, and 61 it has been proposed to replace the word 100 with 1000.

In the Finance Bill for the next financial year, the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax Act, 1958 has been amended and it has been proposed that property tax on properties in the cities of the province will now be collected according to the capital value (DC rate) instead of the rental table. The government will have the authority to declare any property as a high value property. The property owners will be informed about the specific procedure for assessing the value so that they can self-assess their property. However, the assessing authority will be able to audit the self-assessment of the property and if a person under pays tax or tries to evade tax, he may be fined in addition to the amount of tax evaded. If a person does not self-assess his property, the authority will give him a two-week grace period. For capital value tax collection, it has been proposed that residential property worth Rs 5 million will be exempted from tax while on the commercial property of the same value, tax will be collected at the rate of 0.07 percent; the residential and commercial property above Rs 5 million and up to Rs 10 million will be taxed at the rate of 0.07 percent; residential and commercial property valuing above Rs 10 million and up to Rs 25 million will be taxed at 0.08 percent; and property worth above Rs 25 million, the tax rate will be 0.09 percent.

If the tax payable on or before 31-12-2024 is less than taxes, residential property worth Rs 5 million will be exempted from tax, while commercial property will be taxed at the rate before 31-12-2024. Residential and commercial property worth Rs 5 million and up to Rs 10 million will be taxed with an increase of 10 percent before 31-12-2024. Residential and commercial property worth above Rs 10 million and up to Rs 25 million before 31-12-2024 will be charged with an increase of 10 percent. Residential and commercial property worth Rs 25 million and of above value before 31-12-2024 will be charged with an increase of 20 percent.

In the proposed finance bill for the next financial year, the Punjab Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1958 is proposed to be amended. It has been suggested that a lifetime token tax of Rs 1,500 will be collected for motorcycles and scooters and if it is sold within ten years, a rebate of 10 percent has been recommended on its token tax every financial year. In Punjab, in the coming financial year, it is proposed to collect vehicle token tax on invoice value instead of engine power. A vehicle with an engine of more than 1,000 cc will be charged a registration fee of Rs 20,000 and if this registration is transferred in 10 years then 10 percent rebate will be given on it every financial year.

Token tax of 0.2 percent of the invoice value will be charged on vehicles with engine power of more than 1000 cc and less than 2000 cc. Similarly, a tax of 0.3 percent of the invoice value will be charged on a vehicle with an engine of more than 2,000 cc. If the annual tax rate is lower than the above tax rate, then the annual token tax will be charged on the basis of the old rate.

The Punjab government has proposed an increase in the cess duty for labor welfare under the Labor Welfare Act 1967 in the finance bill of the next fiscal year, according to which the Mines Labor Welfare Cess, which was previously fixed at Rs. 30 per tonne has been increased to Rs. 50.