Circle rates beat market prices, hit realty sectorNEW DELHI: Imagine buying property and paying stamp duty far higher than the deal entails because the circle rate is much more than the market price? Many buyers in Delhi NCR — in New Friends Colony, Kalindi Kunj and parts of Noida for instance — and in smaller cities like Bhopal are doing exactly that as a piquant situation has emerged in the subdued realty market.
With market rates being far lower than circle rates — when the opposite is usually true — in these places, the buyer has to pay stamp duty on an amount higher than the price he has paid for the property, drawing the taxman's attention to both buyer and seller in such deals.
Property consultant Sachin Garg, who is based in New Friends Colony, says there's hardly been any transaction in the past one year when the market price has been higher than the circle rate. The circle rate in New Friends Colony is Rs 6.45 lakh per square yard against the prevailing market price of around Rs 5 lakh.
So, if one were to buy a 300 sq yd property in the colony, the cost is around Rs 15 crore at Rs 5 lakh per sq yard. But according to the circle rate, the price works out to Rs 19.35 crore. The buyer is therefore forced to pay a stamp duty of 6% on the far higher circle rate — in other words, shelling out Rs 26.10 lakh extra.
In Bhopal, on the other hand, builders are launching projects in the affordable range — around Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,700 per sq ft — while the circle rates are in the region of Rs 2,400-Rs 3,300 per sq ft.
CMD of Raksha Builder Vipin Goel says this not only forces the buyers to pay a higher stamp duty but also brings them under the scrutiny of the income tax (I-T) department. I-T officials allege that the difference between the circle rate and the market value is the project developers' black income and raise a tax demand at the rate of 33.99% on the difference, says Goel. The buyer too faces a tax demand as the taxmen believe he or she must have paid the difference between the circle rate and market value in black.
Goel says this hassle has prompted many buyers to postpone their purchases, in turn affecting the realty sector adversely.The Cushman and Wakefield consultant says there are procedures to contest the tax demand — which will require buyer and seller to hire tax lawyers and spend time in pursuing the case — but there is no escape from paying stamp duty on the circle rate.
A senior stamp duty collecting official in Delhi says most of the current circle rates were fixed when the prevailing market rate was much higher. For instance, when the circle rate of Rs 6.45 lakh was fixed in New Friends Colony, the market rate was around Rs 8 lakh. The department is likely to review circle rates soon, he adds. In Noida, however, despite market rates in various locations being lower than the circle rate, the government increased the circle rate by 10% last week.
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