It seems the euphoria within the realty sector over the proposed income tax exemption limit on housing loans from Rs. 1.5 lakhs to 3 lakhs has faded even before the union Budget 2012-13 is formally presented.
In a bid to boost housing sector credit, the Indian government is contemplating to enhance the income-tax exemption for up to Rs 3 lakh paid as interest on housing loans in a year, from the existing limit of Rs 1.5 lakh.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report released on Friday that the Income-Tax Department (I-T) understated claims on Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali.
India has the third highest taxation burden in the world when it comes to selling commercial property, after Norway and Malta, according to a study conducted by Taxand, an independent global tax advisory.
The favourable budget outcomes are enhancement of priority home loan limit to Rs. 25 lakhs from Rs. 20 lakhs and extension of interest subvention of 1% up to Rs 15 lakhs.
Affordable Housing development is expected to be encouraged with the announcement of a new Housing Mortgage Guarantee Fund which will cover the risk of Housing Finance Companies for lending to less advantaged sections of society.
While the Indian realtors have often cribbed on the issue of under representation of the sector in respective budget, they have seldom admitted the fact that the real estate has been a divided house over their wants and needs. Navin M Raheja, MD, Raheja Developers suggests a way out and asserts that tax sops given to real estate will actually increase the government revenue.
India Property Tax Rates have been rationalized as whole taxation system has undergone a change. These changes are basically to evolve the system and raise it to international standards.
India has 105 operational (21,214 hectares) and another 631 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under various stages of approval (see DTZ report on ‘SEZs in India’ June 2010). These zones are the only tax havens in India after the likely expiry of STPI/EOU scheme in March 2011 and have seen healthy interest from occupiers as well as developers. The new Direct Taxes Code (DTC 2010) bill, proposes to alter the tax framework of SEZs.
This was also the first quarter where the new accounting standard of IND AS 115 was followed by the company, which uses the project completion method instead of the existing percentage completion method. While some fluctuations in reporting the income are expected, there is no impact on the company’s cash flow or income tax liability, as the company continues to follow percentage completion method under Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS) for income tax purpose. In other words, it is a compliance requirement which will not have any impact on the overall business of the company. We are confident that on completion of some of the ongoing projects in this financial year, the overall income growth momentum will be maintained