Union Budget 2016-17: Jaitley announces tax sops for affordable housing

Presenting the General Budget 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed to give 100 per cent deduction for profits to an undertaking from a housing project for flats up to 30 sq metres in the four metro cities and 60 sq metres in other cities, which have been approved during June 2016 to March 2019, and are completed within three years of the approval.

Minimum Alternate Tax will however apply to these undertakings.

Distribution made out of income of SPV to the REITs and INVITs having specified shareholding will not be subjected to Dividend Distribution Tax.

For first-home buyers, he proposed to give deduction for additional interest of Rs50,000 per annum for loans up to Rs35 lakh sanctioned during the next financial year, provided the value of the house does not exceed Rs50 lakh.

He also proposed to exempt service tax on construction of affordable houses up to 60 sq metres under any scheme of the central or state government including PPP Schemes. Alongside, he further proposed to extend excise duty exemption, presently available to concrete mix manufactured at site for use in construction work at such site to ready mix concrete.