Land registration and other related fees might be cut by 3 to 4 percent on average in a bid to cut corruption and increase government revenue.
“Land registration fees would be reduced so that people give tax voluntarily and don’t resort to dishonesty,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told journalists at his Secretariat office after an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday.
However, the minister did not say exactly how much of the fees would be slashed and added the cabinet would make a final decision in this regard.
Currently, four types of fees are charged for land registration — registration fee, tax at source, transfer fee and local fee. The sellers and buyers of land have to run to four separate offices for this.
Yesterday’s meeting discussed two issues — reduction of fees and introduction of a unified fee collection system.
At present about 18 percent tax and fees are charged on the value of land. The meeting discussed bringing the fees down to 13 to 14 percent. Besides, a working committee led by the law ministry was formed for introducing the unified system for fee collection.
Citing an example, the finance minister after the meeting said if anybody pays tax and fees properly on Tk 1 crore property, they will have to pay Tk 18 lakh. To evade this tax, many show the price much lower at Tk 50,000, he added.
Muhith believes if the tax is reduced substantially the buyers would not resort to dishonest practice. The unified system will also spare the buyers of harassment for shuttling to four points.
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