FBR mulls use of geo-tagging for documenting real estate sector.

ISLAMABAD -- In a bid to document the undocumented real estate sector the government is mulling a Chinese proposal of using geo-tagging to carry out a nationwide survey of properties to evaluate the wealth parked into the sector. A document obtained by The News shows that the government has already approved the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) proposal of a digital nationwide survey of properties. The digital survey along with geo-tagging needs to be undertaken over the next two years to assess and tap colossal wealth parked in the real estate sector over the next two years, the document said. There is no accurate estimate of investment involved in the domestic real estate sector, but a conservative estimate puts it at billions of dollars with most of them being untaxed. The government had recently offered a tax amnesty scheme to bring the undocumented properties into the tax net which comprises less than 2.5 million of return filers. The FBR was advised to keep the Chinese proposal for the survey under consideration. China had proposed the government for conducting digitised land survey (digital cartography) of entire country two years back. The FBR is further considering a proposal for proof of concept of digital survey of Islamabad industrial area along with a geo-tagging option. The revenue collecting agency has been tasked to do it on a priority basis.

The FBR is...