Government quietly offers tax amnesty to realty sector.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has quietly given another perpetual tax amnesty to the realty sector in the budget by allowing it to legalise tax-evaded money at just 4% of the property value.

The new tax amnesty is hidden in the 10th Schedule of the proposed Finance Bill 2019 which, in its current form, allows real estate investors to pay 4% of the transaction value in taxes, keep the source of investment secret and remain outside of the tax net, showed the Finance Bill 2019.

The original idea of the 10th Schedule is said to be very noble - end the tax evasion culture and bring people into the tax net by ending the concept of non-filers of income tax returns.

The unannounced tax amnesty, overall second by Prime Minister Imran Khan, will allow realty-sector investors to save Rs660 million on Rs1 billion worth of property due to the 10th Schedule, according to sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

PM Imran's first tax amnesty scheme will end on June 30, but it has failed to yield desired results. As of Tuesday, <250 people had opted for the first tax amnesty scheme.

Before the insertion of the 10th Schedule, the concealed income was to be charged at 100% of the maximum rate of due taxes. This means at 35% maximum income tax, the property buyer would have been penalised with a total penalty of Rs700 million on Rs1 billion worth of investment.

Now, he will...