Bring real estate under GST, says Manish Sisodia

New Delhi: Demanding that real estate sector be brought under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia wrote to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday.

In a letter to Mr Jaitley, Mr Sisodia said if real estate comes under the new indirect tax regime, exorbitant hike in land prices could be checked and the flow of black money curbed. Mr Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said he had no hesitation in stating that “extraordinary political willpower will be required for taking this step”.

The minister has demanded that the matter of bringing the real estate sector under the GST regime be included in the agenda for the next GST Council meeting to be held at Guwahati on November 9.

He argued that in the real estate sector, primary step is the sale/purchase of land. 

“We are seeing that not only in big cities and towns, but even in far flung villages, those with black money are indulging in land hoarding, thereby illegally forcing genuine buyers to buy land at exorbitant rates,” he argued. 

“My view is that if GST is implemented in all steps involved in development of real estate, then every recorded transaction will lead to tax input credit and exorbitant hike in land prices will be checked, entire chain will remain intact and flow of black money in real estate could be curbed,” Mr Sisodia said in the letter.

He hoped that the GST Council was in a position to take a call on the real estate sector in its next meeting. “Having strongly argued in favour of bringing real estate under the GST ambit, I have no hesitation in stating that extraordinary political willpower will be required for taking this step,” he wrote in the letter. 

Since the implementation of GST in July, the Delhi deputy chief minister has been demanding that real estate be brought under it.