Spare real estate from EVAT — Noli

Vice President Noli de Castro has announced plans to push for the exemption of real estate transactions from the coverage of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law.

De Castro, who also chairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said there is a need to exempt real estate transactions of up to P2.5 million to further boost the housing industry.

The Vice President spoke of his plans before members of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) and other stakeholders during the joint HUDCC-SHDA national developers convention in Bacolod City last Friday.

De Castro said he would coordinate with the BIR for the issuance of a circular implementing the provision in Republic Act 9337 that exempts from EVAT the sale of residential lots valued up to P1.5 million, as well as lots and other residential units up to P2.5 million.

"This will be a big help in lowering the prices of housing units. I trust that your savings from the exemption will be passed on to our buyers through lower prices, or better quality of houses," he said.

At the same time, De Castro urged the BIR to come up with the necessary adjustments in the application of creditable withholding tax, as proposed by private developers.

De Castro said the HUDCC would also look into other measures proposed by developers.

"I have directed the HUDCC secretariat to evaluate the developers’ proposal to adjust the price ceiling for low-cost housing," he said.

"Likewise within this month I will convene the HUDCC council to discuss the proposed adjustment of the low-cost housing loan ceiling, including the corresponding adjustments to Batas Pambansa 220 and the guaranty coverage," he added.

The HUDCC council recently approved a proposal to raise the loan ceiling for socialized housing from P225,000 to P300,000 to encourage more developers to venture into the production of socialized housing units.

De Castro also assured funds for housing will be ready and available for all partner developers.

He said that "this year, the Pag-IBIG Fund has set aside P22 billion worth of funds for housing and another P28 billion next year."

The HUDCC is also working on further streamlining processes related to housing, De Castro said.

He said the lead housing agency for the sector is now coordinating efforts with Environment Secretary Michael Defensor to speed up the processing of environmental clearance certificates (ECCs) for housing projects by limiting the number of environmentally critical areas and shortening the list of requirements for applications.

"I have talked to Secretary Defensor, and he told me that his target is to bring down the number of requirements for EIS applications to only two," he said.

De Castro called on real estate developers to help draft a bill that would convert EO 45 into a law, to further eliminate other hindrances to the speedy processing of housing permits that would require amending various laws.

"With your support, we should be able to finalize our version in time for the shelter month in October," he said.